REinvent Intl. Sales, the banner launched by former TrustNordisk CEO Rikke Ennis, has picked up “In the Name of God,” a thriller about a priest on a mission to expand his congregation at any cost.
The film is directed by Ludvig Gür (“Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story”) and stars Linus Wahlgren (“With One Eye Open,” “Beck”), Vilhelm Blomgren (“Midsommar,” “Gösta”) and Lisa Henni (“Rig 45,” “The Unthinkable”). The movie just wrapped filming.
The film revolves around Theodor, a 40-year-old priest whose world unravel after his wife becomes ill. He becomes convinced that he has been chosen by God to rid the world of sinners in order to bring new life to true believers.
“In the Name of God” is produced by Silverbullet Film by Daniel Lägersten in cooperation with executive producers Daniel Berntsson and Wahlgren with support from CANfilm and LjudBang. REinvent handles international sales.
“ ‘In the Name of God’ plays with good and evil in an interesting way that makes us ask ‘What would I be prepared to do for my loved ones?’ It is a high-concept psychological thriller that I look very much forward to follow as it is brought to the silver screen by the competent team at Silverbullet Film,” said Ennis.
Helene Aurø, sales and marketing director at REinvent, added that “genre films have a massive audience internationally and we are sure that this film will create a stir and that this original plot will appeal to the target group in any given country.”
Not only is this reveal timely given Vol. 3‘s release, but few filmmakers have as much experience and influence on comic book cinema as Gunn.
And, while there’s no doubt that audiences enjoy his superhero films, fans are now getting to know which superhero films he personally enjoys.
James Gunn’s Favorite Comic Book Movies
In a video for GQ, Marvel and now DC Studios’ own James Gunn ranked his favorite comic book films. Three of these happen to be superhero-centric movies, while two others were based on graphic novels. The latter group is as follows:
Oldboy (2003)
Oldboy
Gunn acknowledged that most people don’t know that 2003’s Oldboy“is a comic book film,” saying,
“…but it’s based on a manga, and it’s a Korean film. It reinvented action and it really ushered in the new era of Korean cinema, which has continued to this day.”
In addition to touting that Oldboy“works on every level,” the director credits the film’s hallway fight as “a huge inspiration” and that fans can see his own version of in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
A History of Violence
A History of Violence
Another more subtle comic book film that James Gunn loves is David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence.
Upon his first viewing of the 2005 Viggo Mortensen film, Gunn confessed he was unaware that it was a graphic novel adaptation. And, interestingly enough, that actually influenced him.
According to Gunn:
“I really was influenced by ‘History of Violence.’ I was influenced by the way that it didn’t play like an action movie. You don’t look at it and say, ‘Oh, that’s an action movie.’ But if you watch the way Cronenberg shoots the action sequences in the movie, it’s really spectacular and really deft.”
Gunn credits the following three superhero flicks as his personal Top 3 favorites:
3.) Deadpool
20th Century Pictures
Earning the fifth slot on James Gunn’s comic book movie rankings (and the third slot out of the superhero movies) is Deadpool starring Ryan Reynolds.
Gunn explained that Deadpool was even more of a comedy than his 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy was, praising the 2016 film as “a perfect adaption of a comic book” that also manages to give “more heart than the comics have.”
James Gunn’s second favorite film in his rankings is the iconic superhero film, the late Richard Donner’sSuperman starring Christopher Reeves.
The Superman: Legacy director admitted that this film “changed my life,” explaining how it was “the next big magical movie” he experienced after 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope.
“There’s this playfulness about Superman, when he’s saving a cat, he’s got that wry smile. And that is one of the best parts of the movie is the playfulness of Superman. He enjoys what he’s doing.”
1.) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures
According to James Gunn, “I just don’t think that there’s been a better superhero movie than Into the Spider-Verse.”
In analyzing this 2018 animated hit, whose sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is releasing this June, Gunn claims that Multiversal Miles Morales film “does not have a bad beat in it” andapproached it as a writer, saying what he respects in a movie screenplay is staying “pointed the entire film.”
Honorable Mentions
Gunn also shared a few honorable mention films, most of which also happen to be superhero flicks.
In addition to Deadpool 2, which he discussed in his Deadpool dialogue, Gunn also loves V for Vendetta and the MCU film that started it all, 2008’s Iron Man.
Lastly, Into the Spider-Verse isn’t the only wall-crawler movie James Gunn loves, as he also mentioned Spider-Man: Homecoming.
How Revealing Are James Gunn’s Rankings?
Due to James Gunn’s impressive list of comic book films thus far, as well as what he’s now developing at DC Studios, his personal rankings aren’t just interesting but also illuminating.
The Deadpool films make sense given his penchant for comedy and edge, as do The History of Violence and Oldboy as his style has never been cookie-cutter.
But Superman being his second-favorite superhero film is definitely worth paying attention to.
As Gunn said himself, Superman “changed my life,” and that’s probably why he elected to write, direct, as well as make Superman: Legacy the first film of his Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters slate
Also, again, his notes about Christopher Reeves are likely telling in terms of who he will cast as cinema’s next Man of Steel.
Finally, it’s fascinating to learn of Gunn’s love for Into the Spider-Verse, as it reveals how he views movies from the perspective of a screenwriter.
Wondering why James Gunn’s own superhero films didn’t make his rankings? According to him, his “movies are like my children, so I can’t say one that I like better than the other.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3is playing in theaters now; Superman: Legacy arrives in theaters on July 11, 2025.
Despite the desire of fans to see the canceled Batgirl movie, according to new DC Studios co-CEOPeter Safranthe movie was “not releasable.” Even though the decision to cancel Batgirl was made before Safran and James Gunn were appointed as joint CEOs of DC Studios to oversee Warner Bros. Discovery’s DC output, he spoke at length about how the release of Batgirl something that could never have happened without impacting the people who worked on it in a negative way. However, he also teased that what happened with the movie doesn’t mean that Batgirl won’t fly at some point in the future in a new project. While announcing the new DCU slate of projects, Safran said of Batgirl:
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
“Batgirl’s a character that inevitably we will include in our story. On the Batgirl front, it’s not about late in the process of the film getting canceled. I saw the movie, and there are a lot of incredibly talented people in front of and behind the camera on that film. But that film was not releasable, and it happens sometimes. That film was not releasable. I actually think that [president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery David] Zaslav and the team made a very bold and courageous decision to cancel it because it would have hurt DC. It would have hurt those people involved.
I think that they really stood up to support DC. The characters, the story, the quality of all of that. I spoke to Adil [El Arbi] and Bilall [Fallah] — the directors — last week, we were chatting. We’d love to be in business with all those folks. Christina Hodson wrote it. Some people are already back in business with us. As I said, a lot of talented people were involved, but the film just was not releasable. It would not have been able to compete in the theatrical marketplace; it was built for the small screen. So, again, I think it was not an easy decision, but they made the right decision by shelving it.”
One of the biggest reasons many were so desperate to see Batgirl was down to the inclusion of Brendan Fraser in what would have been one of his first major roles for a number of years. As Firefly, Fraser would have played the villain of the movie, and would have clashed with Leslie Grace’s Batgirl multiple times in the movie.
Another big disappointment for many was the loss of another appearance by both Michael Keaton as Batman and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. While Keaton’s appearance was expected to be only a small role, the return of Michael Keaton to the role after 30 years was a big crowd-pleaser and would have certainly drawn in many people in the same way that Superman’s Black Adam cameo because a focal point of Black Adam. However, like Black Adam, this may not have ended up being for the best, especially given Safran’s comments.
In today’s Daily Fix:
While most of the world is still waiting to boot up The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, producer Eiji Aonuma has already finished it 20 times, and he has some advice: “don’t head straight for the ending.” As Diablo IV inches closer to its June launch date, Blizzard has revealed battle pass pricing and how the RPG will handle its seasonal content. Finally, Epic Games has announced a creative mode for Fall Guys that lets players build and create their own competitive stages.
Last year, at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, Telefilm Canada had launched a campaign to invite audiences to return to cinemas. They called it “Feel Again” and had partnered with distributors, cinemas, festivals, broadcasters, Air Canada — and even filmmaker Director X — to help drive audiences to re-discover Canadian films. “We really spent last summer doing different audience-focused partnerships,” says Francesca Accinelli, VP, promotion, communications and international relations at Telefilm Canada and interim CEO for the past 10 months. “As always, we try and connect with audiences where they are versus creating a whole new audience.” That meant that if they were going to Tim Hortons, part of their strategy was to reach them there.
“One of the things we’ve always sort of focused on is discoverability,” she explains. The website See It All (seeitall.telefilm.ca) was finally seeing traction. “I don’t know what it was, but I have to say that something kind of happened and I felt like people were talking Canadian films again for the first time in a long time and more journalists started doing profiles on Canadian filmmakers.”
There was an atmosphere of excitement. There was fresh talent on the horizon. Anthony Shim’s “Riceboy Sleeps,” about the trauma of immigration, had won the TIFF 2022 Platform Prize and several other awards. Chandler Levack’s “I Like Movies,” about a socially inept 17-year-old cinephile, was getting some buzz, and at this Cannes fest, Monia Chokri is back for the second time with an official selection in Un Certain Regard, “Simple Comme Sylvain,” a drama/comedy about a 40-year-old philosophy professor and her romantic exploits. There’s a move at Telefilm to uncover and cultivate talent on the rise — and not be afraid to say no to projects before they are ready — while supporting them in that journey. “Next year or two, we’re going to see results,” says Accinelli.
The other differentiator globally is that Telefilm is able to finance films in all languages. “Imagine if Canada could be the one country… [where] an Oscar submission for international feature can be in any language, because we can finance that IP at home.”
Meanwhile, local producers have been encountering some challenges when it comes to financing. “There’s limited places to get money, and although we have been successful with raising equity many times it always feels like we’re back to square one when we get a new project,” says Tilt9 CEO Dylan Collingwood. “Stability in financing is hard to find in Canada. Recently, the bumps in interest rates have significantly increased the cost of borrowing. This has had the biggest impact for us in how we fund tax credits.”
Collingwood’s shingle has focused mostly on developing its own original IP, but to make the projects more marketable, they haven’t always met Telefilm’s strict Canadian content quotas when it comes to attaching talent.
Their last release, “Corner Office,” which premiered at the Tribeca Festival last year, starred Jon Hamm, Danny Pudy and Sarah Gadon, was directed by Joachim Back, written by Ted Kupper and lensed by Pawel Edelman. The producers were Canadian, but the film technically didn’t meet the criteria, which is not an insignificant hurdle for them to overcome.
“It takes us out of the running for any government funding like Telefilm or CMF,” says Collingwood. “Canadian theatrical distributors aren’t interested because it doesn’t qualify towards their envelope and we receive the same tax credits provincially and federally as a foreign production. None of this makes sense when we are funding it with Canadian equity and we own the IP. For the tax credits we have to essentially service-produce our own film. The system needs to be updated to assist producers in making content in Canada and owned by Canadians that can have a global appeal.”
As the writer’s strike in the U.S. has significantly impacted Vancouver’s production output, Collingwood is more certain than ever that the system needs to change: “Our local industry cannot rely solely on foreign production to sustain itself.”
Meanwhile, Telefilm is looking to figure out how to involve expat Canadian talent in more Canadian projects at home. “Maybe they could bring in investors, but because they have already established a certain level of attention or notoriety, they’re able to keep the IP,” says Accinelli. “We’re looking at any way we can to encourage Canadian IP to stay with us.”
She realizes that the current Telefilm model isn’t serving the needs of all filmmakers, but suggests that filmmakers consider reaching out even if they are not eligible to explore various levels of support in post-production, marketing, co-ventures, et cetera.
“We’re open,” she says. “People talk to us early on and sometimes it can work. Come and talk to us. I think that’s the big message I’m really trying to put out right now. Don’t presuppose that we can’t be in it.”
Nonetheless, there is still much debate about what’s Canadian and what’s not. “Our goal is always to make sure that the best Canadian talent, the best stories are getting made,” Accinelli says.
For Vancouver-based filmmaker Kevin Eastwood of Optic Nerve Films, one of the biggest hurdles is that there are so few distributors and broadcasters in Canada. “If you’re in the States there’s a lot more doors to knock on to try and get a [project] made, but in Canada you can knock on three to five doors, and if none of them happen to be into what you’re pitching at that particular time, then it’s game over.”
This means that there’s an artificial ceiling on how many films can actually be made in Canada, since there are so few options of where to pitch. “And how bold or original that work is,” he adds.
He also points out that it’s difficult to find crews and vendors that indie filmmakers can afford because they are so accustomed to the higher rates working on U.S. productions.
“And then the other big problem is the cultural cringe factor. It obviously has nothing to do with reality as there’s tons of great Canadian TV and movies, but there’s a real stigma by Canadian audiences against anything Canadian,” says Eastwood, who adds that in other countries, there’s a stronger sense of cultural pride and interest in one’s national cinema.
Right now the big Canadian movie breakout hopeful is Matt Johnson’s “Blackberry,” starring Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Cary Elwes and Saul Rubinek. Accinelli says that the film feels like it has real momentum behind it and has received a strong reception across festivals like Berlin, SXSW and TIFF. “ ‘Blackberry’s’ got a real chance to reach big audiences,” she says. It’s a film about the extraordinary rise of a huge Canadian company that’s a household name — and its ultimate decline.
“It’s like a really important Canadian story that no Canadians really know and building on kind of our idea of making fun of ourselves with comedy,” she adds. It’s the quintessential Canadian story.
EXCLUSIVE: Los Angeles-based production, finance and sales company Premiere Entertainment has picked up international rights to the military action thriller Warhorse One, starring actor Johnny Strong (Black Hawk Down).
Premiere will introduce the pic, which also stars newcomer Athena Durner and Raj Kala (Black Adam), to buyers this week in Cannes.
Written and directed by Strong and William Kaufman (Jarhead 3: The Siege), with Operator Films producing alongside Nicole Kaufman, the plot follows a gunned down Navy SEAL Master Chief (Strong) who must guide a child (Durner) to safety through a gauntlet of hostile Taliban insurgents and survive the brutal Afghanistan wilderness.
We understand the pic is currently slated for a limited theatrical release beginning June 30 in North America via Well Go USA Entertainment.
“In my opinion, the truest casualties of war are the children who are forced to bear the loss of their families as collateral damage during violent conflict,” said Strong. “I wanted to create a film that reminds us that even in the worst of circumstances, there are brave people who are willing to risk everything to protect the innocent.”
Carlos Rincon, SVP Acquisitions at Premiere Entertainment, added: “Warhorse One is an action-packed film that will move audiences with its captivating story of a Navy SEAL who rescues a small child amidst war. The film lyrically portrays the gruesome effects of war on children. This is a special film, and we are proud to team up with Johnny and Operator Films.”
Rincon negotiated the deal with Operator Films.
Premiere’s Cannes slate includes William Kaufman actioner Shrapnel starring Jason Patric, Indonesian superhero blockbuster Sri Asih,George Washington action biopic Washington’s Armor, action thriller Ruthless starring Dermot Mulroney, murder mystery What Remains starring Kellan Lutz and Anne Heche, and teen monster horror Crom.
Joining the ranks of Reese’s Pieces, LaCroix finally made its way to the pinnacle of pop culture after last night’s effervescent episode of Succession. Though LaCroix jokes died several years ago, America’s favorite tragicomedy found a new in by spreading wasabi across the eyes of beleaguered pollster Darwin Perry (Adam Godley) and washing it out with a can of lightly carbonated, lemon-scented liquid. However, the soda in question was nearly much, much sweeter. Speaking to Vulture, episode director Andrij Parekh reveals that LaCroix wasn’t in the script but rather Sprite. Obey your thirst? Not when comedy is involved.
Andrew McCarthy on walking across Spain, and hanging with Emilio Estevez
“We’d gone through all of that in preproduction and talked about what we thought was going to be the right size and placement on the table,” Parekh said. “We’d planted the drinks there already — that’s all there at the beginning of the night. And, originally in the script, it was Sprite that got poured in his eyes. But LaCroix just seems funnier for some reason.”
LaCroix is funnier, especially with Greg attempting to downplay the slight flavors. “It’s natural. It’s medical. It’s not that lemony. It’s just a hint of lemon.” Ultimately, if we’re going by the E.T. standard, which we always are, the scene turns LaCroix into Reese’s Pieces and Sprite into M&Ms, with less warm feelings associated—although we don’t know how long those cans have been sitting out.
As for Godley, he claims that, on set, it was neither Sprite nor LaCroix. “There was nothing actually sting-y put in my eyes at all,” he told Vulture. “It was all quite safe. They rigged up special cans of whatever that soda was. A nice, pure mineral water.”
Their Overstock Is Your Savings Amazon overstocked on a ton of everyday items, and they’re all up to 50% off. Whatever is on your list to grab this week, they probably have a sale.
When Chekov’s grocery store sushi goes off, it’s best to stand back and watch the magic happen. Unless, of course, someone’s about to call a presidential election for a fascist weirdo looking for a “clean” America. In which case, unleash the LaCroix.
There comes a time in our lives when a comedy arrives in theaters that is so iconic, you can’t help but love it years later and want everyone you know to watch it as well. For me, that was The 40-Year-Old Virgin. From the time I saw the amazing Steve Carell-led movie, I knew I was in for a fun time.
But now, the movie is turning 18 in 2023, and the cast has gone on to do some wildly amazing things with their careers. From Carell to Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, here is where The 40-Year-Old Virgin cast is today, and what they have been up to over the last several years.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Steven Carell (Andy Stitzer)
First up on the list is the amazing Steve Carell, who played the lead character, Andy Stitzer, in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. The actor has gone on to appear in many movies, such as Evan Almighty, Date Night, Anchorman 2: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Battle of the Sexes, and more. He’s also started to appear in many more dramatic roles as well, including Beautiful Boy, Foxcatcher (which earned him an Academy Award nomination), Welcome to Marwen, and more.
Carell obviously also had major success as the lead in the American version of The Office cast, but besides that, he was the lead of the Netflix series, Space Force, and was one of the leads of the popular Apple TV+ show,The Morning Show. He was also a lead in FX’s The Patient.
Moving on, we have Catherine Keener, who played Trish Piedmont in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Keener has been in many movies since this, including Into the Wild, Unless, Captain Phillips, The Croods, Trust, Genova, Capote, An American Crime, The Adam Project, Polar Bear and others. She was also one of the characters in Jordan Peele’s directing debut, Get Out, and voiced Evelyn in Pixar’s The Incredibles 2.
Keener also has experience in television with roles in shows such as Kidding, Show Me a Hero, Modern Love, and Forever, among others. She also recently had a guest role on the Bob Odenkirk-led show, Lucky Hank. Coming up, she is actually going to be in Joker 2, otherwise known as Joker: Folie à Deux, so keep an eye out for her.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Paul Rudd (David)
Paul Rudd has truly had a great career over the past couple of decades, and in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, he played David. Since, Rudd has been making a name for himself in many movies and television series. Most recently he’s played Ant-Man in several Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, but he’s also appeared in several other films, including Knocked Up, This Is The End, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sausage Party (which is getting a sequel series), The Little Prince, This is 40, Dinner for Schmucks, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and more.
Rudd has also been in a lot of television lately as well, including parts in his own series, Living with Yourself, as well as roles in shows such as Parks and Recreation, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, The Shrink Next Door, Tiny World, Burning Love, and Reno 911!, among others.
Romany Malco played Jay in the movie, and he’s certainly seen his career grow over the last eighteen years. He’s been in movies such as Night School, Almost Christmas, Holiday Rush, When The Bough Breaks, Gulliver’s Travels, Think Like A Man and more.
Malco also appeared in TV shows in main roles such as Weeds, No Ordinary Family, A Million Little Things, Mad Dogs, Blunt Talk and others. He also frequently guest stars on podcasts.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Seth Rogen (Cal)
Rogen played Cal here, and has certainly made a name for himself in Hollywood over the last few years. He’s been in so many movies, it’s hard to name them all, so I’ll list some of his best – The Fabelmans directed by Steven Spielberg,This Is The End, Knocked Up, The Interview, the Neighbors franchise, and more. He’s also done voice roles in movies such as Sausage Party, The Lion King and the Kung Fu Panda franchise.
Rogen has also been very successful in television. In terms of acting, he’s had recurring roles on Arrested Development, The League and done plenty of voice roles. He also had a lead role in the Pam & Tommy cast. Rogen also works as an executive producer, and worked on the popular Amazon Prime series,The Boys, as well as the superhero series, Invincible. Coming up, he’ll be in a television series called Platonic, and working on many other television shows as a producer.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Elizabeth Banks (Beth)
Next up on this list is Elizabeth Banks, who played Beth, and she’s done so much since the film was released. Her best roles in movies so far include Brightburn, The Hunger Games franchise, Invincible, Lovely, Call Jane, The Lego Movie and its sequel, the hilarious Pitch Perfect movies and Magic Mike XXL among more. She also directed Cocaine Bear.
Banks also had a role in Scrubs, as well as a major role in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, and a major role in Mrs. America. Coming up, she is going to be in movies such as The Beanie Bubble, Migration, A Mistake, and Signal Hill.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Leslie Mann (Nicky)
Moving on is Leslie Mann, who portrayed Nicky. Mann has been in movies such as Knocked Up, 17 Again, Rio and its sequel, The Comedian, Welcome to Marwen, The Bubble, Cha Cha Real Smooth, the stop-motion filmParaNorman and more.
Mann has also been in many guest roles on television in shows such as Modern Family and The Simpsons, and also narrated Makers: Women Who Make America. Coming up, she is going to be in Rocking the Boat, a comedy also starring Rebel Wilson.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Jane Lynch (Paula)
Jane Lynch’s Paula was one of my favorite characters, and Lynch only continued to grow in popularity after her appearance in this movie. She is certainly known much more for her roles in television, with one of my personal favorites being Sue Sylvester from Glee, but she’s been in many other television roles.
These include a recurring guest part in the legendary Two and a Half Men, The L Word, Angels From Hell, Final Space, and more. She also had a guest role on the Hulu original show, Only Murders in the Building. Lynch has hosted several game shows, with some of her best being Hollywood Game Night and Weakest Link.
The actress has appeared in movies such as For Your Consideration, Julie & Julia, Chimps, Role Models, and more, among voices roles for Wreck-It-Ralph and its sequel. Coming up, Lynch will be in Animals and Fairy Tale Forest.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Kat Dennings (Marla Piedmont)
Last but not least, we have Kat Dennings, who played Marla Piedmont in the comedy. Dennings has worked on multiple television shows in main roles, including Dollface, 2 Broke Girls, and more, but she also portrays Darcy Lewis in the MCU, a role she’s reprised several times, most recently in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Other than that, she’s appeared in television shows such as Drunk History, Big Mouth, and others. Dennings has also had roles in movies like The Answer Man, Daydream Nation, Friendsgiving, To Write Love on Her Arms and more.
With a cast this impressive, it’s not a surprise that they’ve been in so much since the film came out. Maybe now you’ll have a new movie or show to binge-watch.
The Peabody Awards won’t be throwing a return celebration this year after all. The org has scrapped this years event, which would have been the first in-person Peabody ceremony since 2019 (before the pandemic), in the wake of the writers strike. Originally set to be held on Sunday, June 11, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, this also would have been the first Peabody Awards to be held in Southern California.
“As an organization dedicated to honoring the most compelling and empowering stories in broadcasting and streaming media, we recognize and respect the position that many of this year’s Peabody Award winners find themselves in,” the org said in a statement. “Due to the ongoing uncertainty and meaningful challenges that exist industrywide, we have decided to cancel the 83rd annual Peabody Awards ceremony that was set to take place on June 11 in Los Angeles. Canceling the ceremony is extremely disappointing as this year’s 39 winners are immensely talented and have brought forth powerful stories that deserve to be celebrated.”
The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors had already announced this year’s winners, including ten entertainment programs: “Abbott Elementary,” “Andor,” “Atlanta,” “Bad Sisters,” “Better Call Saul,” “Los Espookys,” “Mo,” “Pachinko,” “Severance” and “We’re Here.”
Chosen by unanimous vote of 32 jurors from over 1,400 entries, the 83rd annual Peabody Awards also landed on eight documentaries, seven news programs, five from interactive and immersive content, three podcast/radio programs, and one each from arts and public service fare.
Previously announced specialty awards set to be awarded at this year’s event included NBC News’ “Today” as an Institutional Award winner; Lily Tomlin was named this year’s Peabody Career Achievement Award recipient; Issa Rae won the Peabody Trailblazer Award; and Shari Frilot was named the winner of the Visionary Award. Bob Bain Productions had been tapped to produce the event.
PBS leads this year’s winners circle with six, followed by Apple TV+ and Disney+ with three each, and HBO Max with two. See the full list of winners here.
The Peabody Awards are chosen each year by a Board of Jurors in the categories of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, immersive and interactive media, and public service programming. Based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, the Peabodys look at “stories that powerfully reflect the pressing social issues and the vibrant emerging voices of our day.”
Modern dating incentivizes you to constantly chase upgrades at the expense of really caring for someone. On their breezy amapiano and R&B single “Girl Next Door,” Afropop it girls Tyla and Ayra Starr call out lovers who treat romance like a video game: “Don’t be greedy and jump on the next thing you see now,” Tyla warns, her shimmering, liquid-smooth vocals gliding over shakers and warm guitar. Starr comes in swinging, dismissing side chicks and threatening her lover with her absence: “You know I won’t waste no time/I can have another you by 9.” Don’t get the girls wrong; suitors are lining up at their doors and parked in their DMs. Lucky for their man, they love him enough to talk some sense into him.
In difficult and extremely challenging times we turn to storytellers. Stories help us understand the world we live in through the characters we meet. Stories also provide us with guidance and learning.
.In troubled times, people turn to storytellers. Storytellers help us process the disintegration of values. We all seek guidance of how to make sense of the fast-changing world. Storytellers help us understand people with differing opinions and different cultures.
The world’s earliest surviving motion-picture film, showing actual consecutive action is called Roundhay Garden Scene. It’s a short film directed by French inventor Louis Le Prince in October 1888. He used paper base photographic film and his single-lens camera-projector. It was film several years before the earliest movies by The Lumiere Brothers.
While only 2.11 seconds long it is technically a movie.
We turn to Storytellers
Storytellers, read writers, are the people we turn to to find a link to the truth in all the discord in the world. Be it a personal relationship with a lover or a friend, or the disharmony caused by conflict.
Storytellers tell us what they see the future holds. A bit like a tarot card reader, these writers can lay out the cards in a series of moments. These moments can tell their audience what the consequences are for the actions of the main character. And we stand transfixed. We resonate with the challenges and opportunities these storied characters face. and cringe, or despair or rejoice at the outcome of their choices.
A truly great storyteller can look deeply for the eternal, unchanging truths of what it means to be a human being. And sometimes their stories become parables. and sometimes the storyteller becomes renown and remembered as a prophet.
History of storytellers in movies
The invention of moving pictures technology has meant that we can consume stories in a completely new medium. Gone are the dancing shadows conjured up by an ancient telling stories around a campfire. Instead we have the dancing shadows on a screen.
The world’s earliest surviving motion-picture film, showing actual consecutive action is called Roundhay Garden Scene. It’s a short film directed by French inventor Louis Le Prince in October 1888. He used paper base photographic film and his single-lens combi camera-projector. It was film several years before the earliest movies by The Lumiere Brioters.
While only 2.11 seconds long it is technically a movie.
The earliest movies where under a minute long.
In the early 1900’s, movies began to be produced on a larger scale, The establishment of movie studios like Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and MGM. opened. Movie making became industrialised, with factory-like environments, with writers, actors, directors and crew working under contract.
Hollywood became the world’s movie making centre. An outburst of technical and artistic advances brought sound to pictures in the 1920’s. This was followed by the introduction of colour in the 1930s, widescreen formats in the 1950s, and special effects in the 1970s. Digital production started in the 2000’s, and digital distribution in the 2010’s.
Storytelling is the beating heart of movies. Movies tell emotive stories in every genre imaginable. Be it an early silent short, to a full-blown mega-budget feature, movies create movie worlds, with movie people that engage audiences and transport them to new worlds and explore the entire range of human emotion and experience.
Why we need storytellers
Don’t you hate watching the news? Our society and cultural institutions have never been more fragmented. People are clustering to a whole range of values that are increasingly fragmented, depending on their moral code and world view. Traditional values are being blurred and questioned. People are desperately trying to make sense out of these seismic changes.
Why we turn to storytellers
Let’s examine the human psyche. Our basic need is to resolve the stress and discord we face in our daily life, be it personal or public. Artists of all the disciplines, from music to art, from dance to theatre, and filmmakers, attempt to resolve this discord through beauty and harmony. We seek a link from what we see, our reality, to our instinctive desire for truth. The question writers ask is: “What does it me4an to be a human being?”
And a screenwriter answers this compelling question through the use of moving visual media.
Writers have this unique perspective on the world. They see the world through a unique lens. Writers force us to examine the world, and our own internal conceptions of the truths the writer sees. Screenwriters are able to present their stories in a way that creates an emotive response.
The role of the storyteller
Everyone is drawn to a story. Since ancient times, from the time a child is born, human beings respond to stories that are well told. Life with no art is a life of confusion and chaos. A well told story that expresses a truth leaves you with a pleasure that is profound. No matter what the genre or type of story.
A skilled storyteller uses weaves their magic to share new ides, to convey ides and above all to elicit an emotional response.
Reasons we turn to story
In its basic form, story is entertainment. Entertainment takes you away from your current moment and takes you to another world. It’s an escape from the daily crunch and grind. Through story we meet new characters and follow their journey, often facing and resolving the same issues
Story is also how we learn, and how we educate important lessons and moral values. Through story we can learn about history and different cultures.
Story can also inspire. we can follow a characters journey as they struggle against impossible odds, followed by triumph. Through this we can examine the choices we make, or fail to make, and we can become a better person.
Through story we connect with other people. Story is how we learn empathy. It’s how we bond. It’s how we bond. and how we gin compassion for our fellow human beings.
Fade Out
Storytellers are like magicians. They have this insanely wonderful ability to grab out attention. They entertain, educate and inspire us.
On Monday, WGA announced that members will not picket the 2023 Tony Awards, after the ceremony’s organizers made changes “to conform with specific requests” from the guild.
In a statement Monday evening, WGA didn’t disclose the nature of those changes. But whatever they are they come 3 days after the guild on Friday to denied a waiver to CBS and Paramount+ that would allow the ceremony to be broadcast and streamed. And indeed, WGA specifically blamed CBS, Paramount “and their allies,” for making the changes necessary.
“As has been previously reported, the Writers Guilds of America East and West (WGA) will not negotiate an interim agreement or a waiver for the Tony Awards. However, Tony Awards Productions (a joint venture of the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing) has communicated with us that they are altering this year’s show to conform with specific requests from the WGA, and therefore the WGA will not be picketing the show,” WGA said.
“Responsibility for having to make changes to the format of the 2023 Tony Awards rests squarely on the shoulders of Paramount/CBS and their allies. They continue to refuse to negotiate a fair contract for the writers represented by the WGA. As they have stood by us, we stand with our fellow workers on Broadway who are impacted by our strike,” statement concluded.
It’s unclear if the ceremony will be broadcast, given WGA’s statement. But the event is still scheduled for Sunday, June 6 at 8 p.m. Eastern, with Ariana Debose as host. Representatives for the Tony Awards organization didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.
Earlier Monday, the Peabody Awards organization announced that the 2023 ceremony would be canceled. While the group didn’t mention the strike directly, it did cite “the position that many of this year’s Peabody Award winners find themselves in,” and “uncertainty and meaningful challenges that exist industrywide” as reasons.
It’s only the latest major industry event to be impacted. Just over a week ago, the live ceremony for the 2023 MTV Movies &TV Awards was canceled after host Drew Barrymore dropped out to support the strike. MTV replaced it with a clip show that included pre-taped segments. Last week the Critics Choice Association postponed a planned celebration of LGBTQ+ movies and television that it had planned to hold in early summer. And that’s in addition to the myriad television shows and movie shoots that have paused production.
For all of TheWrap’s WGA Strike coverage, click here.
Cable TV is on the way out, and YouTube TV is in for Wide Open West, or WOW!, a smaller US broadband operator with just over a half million internet customers and, as of March 31st, 117,000 households paying for cable TV.
The process of migrating WOW!’s residential video customers to YouTube TV will begin this summer as WOW! discontinues the marketing and selling of its TV services, including WOW! tv+, and sells YouTube TV across its footprint. WOW! will maintain and support its current video services as its existing base of video customers can switch from WOW!’s current video products to YouTube TV.
WOW! has been transitioning away from traditional cable since introducing WOW! tv+ several years ago, which is its IPTV service that uses an Android-based streaming box for on-demand video, cloud DVR, and a Google Assistant voice remote. The company also offers bundled pricing for streaming TV alternatives like FuboTV, DirecTV streaming, and, yes, YouTube TV, but this new deal would distill its video options to just marketing the YouTube TV subscription with no included hardware.
Google said YouTube TV surpassed 5 million subscribers last year, and a recent analyst report pegged its total at about 6.3 million now, with months to go before the Sunday Ticket deal kicks in. Still, whether they get their TV from a streaming service or traditional cable, the number of pay-TV subscribers in the US has continued to drop and is around 75.5 million households, according to the report by MoffettNathanson.
The fourth annual London TV Screenings has unveiled dates, as the gathering of sales houses continues to define itself as one of the most important events in the TV calendar. Next year’s fourth Screenings, which in 2023 saw more than two-dozen distributors host events for buyers, will take place Monday 26 February to Friday 1 March 2024. The Screenings are organized by ITV Studios, All3Media International, Banijay Rights, eOne and Fremantle but many others sign on through the year, and last year the total number was 28. A London TV Screenings spokesperson said: “The third annual London TV Screenings proved that the event is firmly embedded in the annual buying calendar, packing out the largest and most prestigious screening venues London has to offer.”
‘Reginald The Vampire’ Maker Thunderbird Explores Sale With ACF
Canadian Reginald the Vampire maker Thunderbird Entertainment is exploring sales options after engaging ACF Investment Bank, the company that has brokered huge deals for Lord of the Rings IP and Simon Cowell’s Syco of late. The move comes as part of Thundebird’s strategic review process of “assessing all opportunities to maximize shareholder value.” This review was sparked following a fight for control at the top of Thunderbird that saw key shareholder, Texas-based hedge fund Voss Capital, push to replace board members with people who could “unlock the value” of the Kim’s Convenience and Highway Thru Hell indie. The dispute was resolved in January when Marni Weishofer and Frank Giustra left the board, while Asha Daniere, Mark Trachuk and Lisa Coulman subsequently joined and have been evaluating opportunities. “Thunderbird has fantastic growth ahead of us and we want to continue building on this tremendous momentum,” said Jennifer Twiner McCarron, CEO and Chair of Thunderbird’s Board of Directors. “Our mission is to become the next major global studio and working with ACF allows us to strategically review all options for growth and evaluate any inbound expressions of interest received by the Company.” ACF recently brokered the sale of the Lord of the Rings IP to Sweden’s Embracer Group and also worked on the $125M securitization deal for Cowell’s Got Talent franchise.
Sky Studios Deutschland Hires EP Duo
Das Boot maker Sky Studios Deutschland has signed Julia Rappold and Stella Flicker as Senior EP and EP respectively. The pair will be responsible for the production, execution and delivery of Sky Studios’ scripted original slate across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Rappold most recently worked at Lieblingsfilm, where she developed and oversaw numerous cinema and TV projects including Beckenrand Sheriff,war drama Das Glaszimmer and family drama Familie is nich. Flicker was a producer at Letterbox Filmproduktion. Rappold will join in October and Flicker is already at Sky Studios, with both reporting to Nils Hartmann, EVP Sky Studios Deutschland & Italia. Rumors of a Sky Deutschland sale have abound in recent months although no buyer has come out of the woodwork as of yet.
BBC Unveils Andi Oliver and The Hairy Bikers Shows
The BBC has announced shows with Andi Oliver and The Hairy Bikers out of the Wales Screen Summit. Unveiled by Unscripted Director Kate Phillips, Andi Oliver’s Big Bash [working title] will see the host and renowned chef bring her party organizing skills to towns and cities across the UK, galvanizing communities with her unwavering belief in the power of delicious food, good vibes and great music. And in The Hairy Bikers Go West, the BBC stalwarts will travel the UK’s west shores, discovering the producers, farmers and chefs that are contributing to a modern British culinary revolution. ITV Studios-backed South Shore is producing both shows and they were unveiled at the Wales Screen Summit, where bosses at the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 are delivering keynotes.
The hit, 45 years ago, shook up the world of football. Then, just as quickly, people moved on. But not Darryl Stingley, the receiver for the New England Patriots who bore the head-on charge by Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raiders. Stingley was rendered quadriplegic. Tatum, a defender known as “The Assassin,” notoriously never apologized.
The artist Matthew Barney was an 11-year-old in Idaho at the time and remembers the incident from constant slow-motion replays on television. He was just getting into the sport seriously himself, and the Tatum-Stingley collision, though shocking, didn’t stop him. Violence was inculcated in football training, he recalled. It was also addictive.
“That was my gateway, feeling that blow to the head and what that feels like in your body,” Barney said in an interview in March while editing “Secondary,” his new five-channel video installation that takes that 1978 event as its point of departure. He relished practice drills where he and other boys were ordered to slam into each other at top speed, he said. “You’d walk away, and you’re seeing stars.”
Barney became an elite high-school quarterback, but he changed course during his years at Yale University, emerging from there in 1989 into the New York art world, where he found near-instant success. Physical duress was immediately salient in his work, from the “Drawing Restraint” projects in which, for instance, he would harness himself and move along a gallery’s walls and ceiling, attempting to draw on the wall.
Football served as a prompt in the “Jim Otto Suite,” which Barney made in 1991-92, one of the early works that established his distinctive approach to combining performance, video and sculpture. Its inspiration was Otto, a Raiders player whose numerous injuries led his body to be loaded with prosthetic materials. Otto’s story collapsed resilience and destruction, and artistically opened performance and sculpture horizons.
But the sport itself would recede in Barney’s work, engulfed by countless other themes — sexual differentiation, reincarnation, cars, sewers and excrement, among many others — and the epic scale and baroque staging of his “Cremaster Cycle” (1994-2002) and “River of Fundament” (2014) films. (Metrograph, a movie theater in Manhattan, is showing the “Cremaster” films this month and next.)
With “Secondary,” which is open through June 25, Barney is tugging at a loose end that goes back to his childhood. From a place of physical and intellectual maturity, he’s scrutinizing a sport — and a country, because football is quintessentially American — that may or may not have changed. Now 56, he is taking stock of himself and an uneasy nation.
“There’s a way that the violence in our culture has become so exposed everywhere you look,” he said. “I think my relationship to that legacy is by way of my experience on the football field. I wanted to make a piece that looks at that, in more ways than one.”
The new work is concise for Barney. It runs one hour, the clock time of a football game. Six performers, out of a principal cast of 11, enact the roles of players in the 1978 game, including Barney as Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler. It was filmed at Barney’s warehouse studio in Long Island City, near the East River. And it is showing to the public now in that very venue — his final use of the space before he moves to a nearby facility.
Last fall and winter, the studio served as a simulated football field, a movement lab and a film set. When I visited, the principal performers — including David Thomson, who plays Stingley and is the project’s movement director, and Raphael Xavier, as Tatum — were running through some of the episodes that tell the story abstractly, in an indirect sequence.
There were weird things going on, too. Additional performers around the sideline wore the all-black costumes of devoted Raiders fans, walking around like camp horror figures; some were actors, but others were members of the Raiders’ New York City fan club. Some were being filmed inside a trench that was dug into the studio floor, exposing pipes, dirt and water.
An artist’s studio, Barney said, has traits of the stadium. “It’s kind of the organizing body for this story,” he said, adding: “I wanted my working space to be a character.”
Digging the trench, he said, revealed decaying pipes and how the tide floods and recedes under the buildings. “I wanted that infrastructure to be exposed, both as a manifestation of the broken spine of Stingley, but also as crumbling infrastructure within my studio, within the city of New York,” he said.
For all its allusions, “Secondary” — the title refers to the back line of defenders on the football field, cornerbacks and safeties whose job is to shadow the wide receivers and break up any passing play — holds to the Tatum-Stingley incident as its narrative and moral core.
It is rich and also tragic material. Stingley died in 2007 at 55; Tatum, 61, died three years later. All his life after the hit, Stingley wanted an apology that never came. Tatum argued that the hit was just part of the job, even if he also boasted that his style of play pushed the line. Since then a flood of research has confirmed the sport’s toll. Stabler, whom Barney plays in “Secondary,” contributed to this knowledge posthumously when his brain was found to show advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E.
I asked if Barney, the former quarterback, had come to worry about his own health. “Honestly, yeah,” he said. He was glad, he added, that he stopped playing when he did.
“Secondary” has a staccato format, amplified by its staging: A jumbotron-like overhead device shows one video channel on three screens, while four other channels run on monitors around the studio. The hit is evoked early, but much of the subsequent action returns to buildup — players warming up, fans getting hyped. The play sequences make up roughly the final third.
The point was never a literal treatment, said Thomson, the movement director and Barney’s close collaborator on the project. “This isn’t a docudrama,” he said. “I’m not trying to be Stingley, a person I don’t know. We’re not representing his life, we’re representing a moment.”
Still, Thomson said, from studying the real-life athletes, he distilled traits that informed how he worked with the actors who portray them. Stingley, he said, was earnest. Tatum, angry. Grogan, technical. Each trait, he said, became “a touchstone one goes back to without too many flourishes, and see what resonates from that place.”
In their research, Barney and Thomson read Tatum’s and Stingley’s autobiographies and watched hours of football highlights and practice reels. Video of the hit — which came in a preseason game, with no competitive stakes — is grainy and sparse. The camera follows the ball past Stingley’s outstretched arms, so that the hit takes place at the edge of the frame. There were not dozens of camera angles available like today.
This opened space for improvisation, and for Barney to introduce sculptural props that the players negotiate. (Barney has always stated he is a sculptor first and plans for these works to be shown in future exhibitions.)
Xavier, the dancer who plays Tatum, had to contend with a pile of wet clay dumbbells that distended and broke as he carried them. “I’ve worked with props before, but they were solid,” he said. “But the clay was alive.” It forced him, he said, to locate vulnerability, even tenderness, inside a character that he remembered from his own childhood as an aggressive, even mean, football player.
Indeed, the core players in “Secondary” are middle-aged men negotiating the memory of the culture they grew up in — and of their own bodies. Even stylized, the football movements involved in the piece are not instinctive or easy ones for men in their 50s and 60s.
Barney “particularly wanted older bodies, which I appreciated,” Thomson said. “What are the limitations that those bodies hold that may have a different resonance, a different visual narrative?”
But “Secondary” enfolds other perspectives as it gestures toward a broader, contemporary American social landscape. The referees are a mixed-gender crew. Jacquelyn Deshchidn, a composer, experimental vocalist and member of the San Carlos Apache Nation, delivers an extremely deconstructed version of the national anthem.
“As an Indigenous person, it was something that I was excited to take on,” Deshchidn said. They became drawn, too, to the work’s environmental aspect, spending breaks on set staring into the damp trench. “It brought up imagery of bones and burial, and repatriation work — the way there are institutions truly built on top of our bones.”
Barney is an art-world celebrity (whose fame only grew during his more than decade-long relationship with the Icelandic pop artist Björk), but he prefers a low profile. On set, he cut a workaday presence with his close-shaven look under a cap. Performers in “Secondary” said his work ethic was intense but his manner open. While some people on the project are his longtime collaborators, like the composer Jonathan Bepler, many are new to his world.
There is a sense with “Secondary” that Barney is turning a page — certainly with the studio move, after some 15 years at that site, but in some private way, too. When I asked if he was feeling his age — our age, as we are contemporaries — he said yes.
“In a good way,” he added. “Letting go of being a young person is a big relief.”
Compared with his earlier work, “Secondary” strikes a more concise and collaborative note. “It’s more connected to the world,” he said. “It’s a piece that’s thinking through the environment within which it was made. In my 20s, I was trying to figure out ways of assigning a material language for what was inside me. This piece is different that way.”
“Secondary” may take its cue from 1978 and invite its players into a kind of memory work through their bodies — but the work’s structure, with its emphasis on the buildup to the bad thing everyone knows is coming, energizes it with premonition.
It ends in an elegiac vein, the final shots widening to the city. “It felt crucial to pan away from the specific to the general,” Barney said. “As much as the studio is a kind of micro frame, there’s a larger one that is the city and country that we live in. I want there to be some kind of legibility to read those different scales — for them all to be in there.”
Fans loved its emotionally resonant story, in-depth characterizations, and over-the-top action sequences. But it was impossible to please everyone.
James Gunn Reacts to Cosmo Controversy
Marvel
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn took to Twitter to respond to those who took issue with Cosmo the Spacedog being female in the movie. On the pages of Marvel Comics, the character has always been portrayed as a male dog; however, was swapped for the big-screen blockbuster.
“Why did you make cosmo a female when he had always been known as a good boy”
Gunn defended his decision, referencing the real-world dog Laika who was one of the first animals in space:
“Because Cosmo is based on Laika, the Russian dog, who was a female, so I gender-swapped her back.”
Notgoingsane also tweeted their views on the situation:
“But it makes no sense why to change it. Keeping it wasn’t inaccurate as the comic is a male dog It serves no purpose to change it. The original comic was a male dog you are not ‘changing it back’ because it was never a female in the first place. Only inspired by.”
In his reply, James Gunn namedropped other Guardians characters, such as Drax and Mantis, who he modified from their comic versions:
“I’d rather honor the real dog who died in outer space. Cosmo would not exist without Laika. By the way, I changed Mantis, Drax, High Evo, and others from humans to aliens, which seems a bigger change. Why does it upset you so much?“
That same Twitter user doubled down on their complaint:
“Because the whole point of an adaptation is to adapt. You adapt the source material as I stated. And I hate comics changing established characters as well (unless they state its a multiverse thing. )”
And Gunn had none of it:
“It’s always a multiverse thing. That’s what the MCU is – a different version of Earth 616. And, again, you should look up the meaning of ‘adapt.’“
Gunn Continues To Shoot Straight
James Gunn is no stranger to calling out people on Twitter. Whether it be because they’re spouting falsehoods or being impolite, Gunn is usually there to set the record straight.
This is an element of his personality that will be interesting to observe as he further settles into his leadership position as CEO of DC Studios. He’s already cleared up several misconceptions about the pre-production process of 2025’s Superman: Legacy.
It’s refreshing to see a creator, especially one who is so high up on the totem pole, be so willing to respond to individuals on Twitter, which, incidentally, he often does in a more friendly capacity to those who are more respectful.
And as for Cosmo, while the character may be male in certain continuities, it’s admirable that Gunn wanted to honor Laika, the real-life canine, in his movie. And does her gender really matter all that much, either in the context of the film or the grand scheme of things?
Cosmo’s character turned out to be popular among fans and she even gets a memorable moment in Guardians 3 to showcase her powerful telekinetic abilities. Plus, she also earns herself a spot on the new Guardians roster, as showcased in Vol 3’s mid-credits scene.
Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing In theaters everywhere.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gotham Knights is the cheapest DC series to ever air on The CW.
The show premiered on March 14 and follows Bruce Wayne’s adopted son and the Joker’s daughter, along with a team of teenage fugitives, as they become Gotham’s new heroes.
While it’s true that the Gotham City-centric series and Superman & Lois haven’t been canceled, reports claim The CW is only expected to renew one of the two.
While the obvious choice is Superman & Lois given its larger audience and better reception, Gotham Knights‘ slim budget actually works in its favor, especially if the network needs a filler series for next year’s lineup as it continues to reinvent itself.
DC storytelling may be coming to an end on The CW, but for now, the story of which drama will be the last DC series standing continues.
New episodes of Gotham Knights premiere on The CW every Tuesday.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘s Ultrahand ability is one of its most enjoyable mechanics, so it stands to reason plenty of the game’s shrines will demand you to master it. Such is the case with Gasas Shrine southwest of Hyrule Ridge, which asks you to connect a lot of items together to make your way through. We’ll tell you how to solve the puzzles within here.
How to solve the Gasas Shrine Puzzle in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
In the first room of the Gasas Shrine, shoot the rope holding up a cube so that you can jump on it and cross the gap. Next, pick up that same cube with your Ultrahand and attach it to the other one on the other side of the room in such a way that allows you to climb up onto the next platform.
Arrange the blocks like this so you can climb up.
At the top, combine the two plates here to create a bridge so you can cross the gap.
Create a bridge to cross the gap.
On the other side of the gap, pick the bridge back up and set it down in such a way that it provides a safe place for the chest on the right of the room to drop. Shoot the chest down so that it falls on the bridge, then open it for a Large Zonai Charge.
Provide the chest with a safe spot to land.
Pick the bridge back up and set it in the middle of the room. Grab the large cube against the wall and attach it to one side of the bridge so that it weighs that side down. Now lift the bridge and set it in the gap on the left side of the room and look straight up to spot a chest hanging high above.
The cube weighs the bridge down so it won’t fall into the abyss.
Shoot the chest down with an arrow and snag the Small Key inside. Use the key on the door that allows you to enter the final room.
The chest is high above you.
In this final room, grab the ball and pull it towards you as far as you can. Release it and then aim an arrow at the rope. Shoot the rope when the ball is swinging back over solid ground. If you’re lucky, it’ll roll right into the massive hole on the left side of the room–but if not, grab it and put it in there to open the final door and claim your reward.
Make the ball swing, then shoot it down when it’s over solid ground.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
eMotimo has given us precisely what we’ve been asking for with this new integrated control for a DJI Ronin S and a slider.
As a reviewer, there are times when I frequently conclude a review with, “Now that I have A, B, and C in this tool, what I really really want is for the designers to do XY and maybe even Z.” If you stick around and review things long enough, you even get the chance to see some of those things come to fruition. It’s an amazing feeling, and that’s what it felt like playing with the new “interview monster” from eMotimo.
It’s a little box that lets you set up a repeating interview tracking shot (or really any repeating shot) with only a single controller. It’s amazing and is going to completely change the workflow for a lot of interview shooters and expand the possibilities of lower-budget product work.
Understanding the Importance
To understand why this tool is so great, you need to have a little handle on what it was like before. If you wanted to do a tracking shot, you needed both a motorized slider and a motorized head. On a big-budget job, you’d have a Mark Roberts machine that did it all, controlled by a single software.
But for us indie folk, we would have one company making your head, one making your follow focus, and one making your slider.
You’d then set that motorized slider going back and forth with one controller (often an iPad dedicated just to that purpose and that purpose alone), and then you’d need another controller to run the pan and till and focus and roll/cut on your camera. Every single take required at least two different systems starting at once. It was very frustrating.
The Interview Monster puts it all together under one controller. It lets you set up a DJI Ronin S3 Pro, which is a unit that many people already have, mount it to a slider, and then control the linear motion of the slider and the pan and tilt and roll and focus on the DJI RS3Pro, all with a single PS4 style controller. You can even add another axis to the whole system and control a turntable for product work if you do that kind of thing.
An eMotimo motor mounted to an iFootage slider
The beauty here is that it’s just a single controller that is a dedicated unit with all the inputs you need to intuitively do your setup. It takes a process that was frequently hiccupy, frustrating, and slow and made it something where, once the slider was set up, you could have your shot ready to go in less than a minute. There are on-unit controllers, two little thumb knobs that let you get it set up in something like 20 seconds if you are in a real rush, but by pairing a PS4 controller, the whole system just snaps to life.
The DJI Ronin S3 Pro accessory port
This dedicated controller is especially useful if you end up with a unit requiring Bluetooth control. It can be very frustrating to do with a phone, and having the PS4 controller solves that problem.
With a phone app, every time you switch to another app, you tend to lose pairing, and re-pairing can require quitting the app and losing your programming.
The custom attachment eMotimo make to control the Ronin
The solution many have found is a dedicated iPad for each unit that needs Bluetooth control. However, even used iPad Minis aren’t going to be as cheap as a PS4 controller, and having to charge and update and maintain a fleet of old iPads to control stuff is a hassle. On-unit controls and the PS4 controller are welcome improvements.
Testing, One, Two, Three
eMotimo let me test a pre-lease unit, which is why the attached photos show a 3D printed case, but they expect the final unit to be shipping this summer and will, of course, be manufactured to be a robust working unit designed to survive set life. eMotimo has been in this space for a while, and their ST4 is a workhorse industry standard, so we have every reason to believe this will match that quality.
Even with the prerelease unit, the system was a complete joy, and I can’t wait for the release units to start showing up in the field.
Once your slider is setup (the unit has integrations for iFootage and Dana Dolly and others will come), you mount up the DJI and then use a custom-built attachment to mount to the accessory port of the Ronin that gives you full control of the unit. From there, using either the on-unit or PS4 controls, you can program the unit in no time.
Setting it up in “interview mode,” bouncing back and forth and repeating itself in a loop to give you a dynamic “c-camera” take on an interview, was an absolute breeze.
What was even more fun was doing product work.
I threw together a quick shot using the eMotimo turntable, which was controlled with the same interface, and in a few short minutes, was messing around with truly fascinating product shots that previously would’ve cost a lot more to execute. I did two takes of the same shot and overlaid them here so you can see the high level of accuracy of the shot, which is surprising since I don’t think of the DJI RS3 as being a “precision repeatability” unit since it’s usually being held in someone’s hand. But even with beta hardware and software, there is an impressive level of accuracy in these shots.
You can see some buzzing between the two takes, they aren’t as perfect as a $200,000 motion control unit could do, but they are pretty darn close, which is amazing for the price of all of this together. If you want to do product work mixing and matching takes, doing focus stacking, or changing lighting for repeats, a lot of that is doable at a pretty impressive price point.
My biggest worry as I entered testing was the limits of the RS3 Pro for both accuracy and power. It carries the very popular Blackmagic 6K Pro just fine, so I was very happy there since that camera is frequently my C-Cam these days with a few Blackmagic 12Ks for A and B cameras for a 3-camera interview setup.
But the focus motor is not the world’s most powerful. It has no problem pulling focus on a smooth modern lens like the XEEN CF units we used in the testing here, but I was worried about what we would experience if we tried a vintage lens with a harder pull.
eMotimo had already thought through that dilemma, and there is a port for powering other follow-focus systems, with support already in place for Tilta units. Presumably, if you wanted to use even more powerful motors, you could talk to them about a custom implementation.
Food for Thought
The weirdest thing about all of this is that DJI hasn’t already done it.
Having something you pop on the bottom of an RS3 Pro to make it work with a single control for a slider seems like a no-brainer. But DJI is a massive company that is focused on higher volume products, and it’s possible that this was too niche for them. However, their loss is to the gain of both eMotimo and the end user.
eMotimo has a long experience making an intuitive interface with the PS4 controller, integration with dragon frame, and integrations with various sliders, which makes this one time where mixing brands works well. It’s nice to get a specialist unit for the very specialist feeling tools, and then they support a unit that is rapidly becoming industry standard (the RS line).
It’s not a drawback necessarily, but the motor system for the slider draws enough power that you’ll always need to be powering it from a V or Gold mount (or the newer 24V B-mount system) battery. This isn’t a system that is going to run off 2 LPs anytime soon with a motor to power that needs to push around a camera and a Ronin. Most shooters will have some batteries around that will power this all right up, so it’s not a massive issue to overcome, but it’s something to think through as you build a setup and think about where to mount the batteries, where to mount the unit, and running the cables.
This lead me to one curiosity I had about the demo unit. The methods for mounting it easily on the system and routing cable weren’t built into the box yet, but those seem like elements that will be easily addressed as they revise the system.
Overall it seems like this is a nice moment where an established small vendor (eMotimo) saw a hole in the market that they could fill. The end result is a tool that a lot of end users are going to love. It solves a pain point for many interview shooters that we’ve all been waiting to get fixed. And having used it, I can’t wait for the release version to hit the streets so we can start putting it to use on actual jobs.
The stars are out at this year’s Cannes, and not just on the red carpet that leads up to the splashy premieres that make the festival the most glamorous celebration of movies in the world. From Daisy Ridley to Alicia Vikander, Angelina Jolie to Sylvester Stallone, Idris Elba to Jude Law, several A-list actors are attached to projects that are being brought to market at Cannes in what looks like its biggest edition in years. Will all that high-wattage talent lead to one mega-deal after another?
“It’s obviously going to be an outrageously busy market,” says Constantin Film’s Martin Moszkowicz. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much product, definitely not for the last couple of years, led by very high-profile movies with big cast, big directors, big budgets.”
Yet, the big question, Moszkowicz adds, is when and how all these projects will get made.
“I don’t know how much people will be talking about the elephant in the room, but there’s a giant big elephant on the Croisette that’s in the shape of the Writers Guild strike,” says David Garrett, the co-founder of Mister Smith Entertainment.
Indeed, as studio executives and sales agents hit the South of France, their eyes remain fixed on the labor strike roiling the entertainment industry.
“The strike is a bit less an immediate all-consuming issue for independent film than it is for scripted television,” says AGC Studios executive Stuart Ford. “The Cannes marketplace is primarily based on the sale of completed screenplays, which buyers can read and contractually rely upon ahead of going into production.”
Writers put their (metaphorical) pens down two weeks ago, so some film industry vets say the impact on production hasn’t been felt yet. But with the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) still far apart, people feel there will be some kind of collateral damage.
“The impact will become more visible the longer it takes,” says Thorsten Schumacher, founder and CEO of Rocket Science. “A lot of these films are international productions, but they won’t be insulated forever.”
The sword of Damocles hanging over the industry is whether the WGA stoppage will be joined from July 1, once current contracts lapse, by the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.
“Productions could be more delayed if actors and directors stand in solidarity with the writers,” says Delphine Perrier, the chief creative officer at Highland Film Group.
Even if directors and actors don’t strike and the WGA dispute comes to relatively rapid resolution, disruption to TV and film production will create a knock-on production bottleneck, as when COVID-19 restrictions lifted, Garrett argues.
The international business thrives on optimism, however.
“We’ll all be engaging everybody in the usual dealmaking, just in the hope that the writers strike will eventually be solved and everything will carry on as normal,” says Garrett, who’s launching Weston Razooli’s Directors’ Fortnight title “Riddle of Fire” and “Hot Mess,” starring Emma Roberts.
Buyers certainly have a lot to choose from. Anton has Ridley’s “The Shard” and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Breakout”; AGC Studios is backing alien abduction thriller “They Found Us,” from Neill Blomkamp, and Ron Howard’s survival thriller “Origin of Species,” starring Ana De Armas, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander and Daniel Brühl.
Andrew Garfield is playing astronomer Carl Sagan in “Voyagers,” from FilmNation, which also reps Dave Bautista action thriller “The Cooler” and the Stephen King adaptation “The Life of Chuck” as well as a Maria Callas biopic from Pablo Larraín that is set to star Jolie as the opera diva.
Black Bear Intl.’s slate is led by an untitled Guy Ritchie action movie, Matthew McConaughey crime thriller “The Rivals of Amziah King” and “The Monkey,” which is also from King.
Elsewhere, Independent Entertainment reps “Relax,” a biopic about the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood; Elba will star in, produce and direct action-thriller “Infernus” for Millennium Media; Mel Gibson directs Mark Wahlberg in plane-set thriller “Flight Risk” for Lionsgate; Stallone stars in a Rocket Science’s “Cliffhanger” reboot, reportedly budgeted at $80 million.
The star-spangled product glut reflects one of the biggest ironies at this year’s Cannes: the fact that the WGA strike coincides with the international sales business on something of a rebound.
“Theatrical markets are getting healthier and healthier, Germany is now catching up on 2019,” says Moszkowicz.
E.U. and U.K. gross box office surged 70% in 2022 to €5.1 billion ($5.6 billion), 28% below the 2017-18 average. First quarter 2023 ticket sales shot up, however, another 50% in Italy, 28% in Spain and 24% in France, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory. In the U.S., blockbuster titles such as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” have attracted crowds.
“From a buyer perspective, [this year’s Cannes Market] looks quite promising. There’s a lot of buyer appetite in Western and Eastern Europe, Australasia, MENA and Latin America,” says AGC Studios’ Stuart Ford.
But not every genre is working. “Dramas are having a tougher time, documentaries are having a tougher time, international films [in the U.S.] are having a difficult journey,” says Scott Shooman, IFC’s head of acquisitions and the interim head of the studio. “All that said, things that are unique or compelling or released smartly are doing really well.”
And there are more paths to profitability. Home entertainment revenues have consolidated, with global streaming platforms, pay TV incumbents and now traditional broadcasters’ VOD services all battling for the pay one window, Moszkowicz observes. That’s cushioned the blow for movies that have struggled to find their audience.
“You have to understand the economics when you buy a movie,” says Shooman. “Box office is not always the major indication of success. A theatrical release raises awareness on those ancillary revenue streams.”
Having frozen acquisitions over the last three years, some mid-sized territories in Asia — Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia — are coming back to the marketplace, says Highland Film Group’s Perrier, who is introducing the survival thriller “The Ridge,” starring Billy Magnussen.
“In terms of major territories and foreign presales, the marketplace feels more alive,” says Nick Shumaker, at Anonymous Content’s AC Independent. He notes that if you’ve got the right projects, you don’t need to “the kind of antiquated fictional strategy of just selling everything to streamers.”
Still, significant challenges remain. “The big two question marks will be: Will the Asian territories return to buying? And, will U.S. distributors, theatrical or streamers, be active? Because it’s otherwise been a very slow start to the year in the U.S. marketplace,” says AGC’s Ford.
Companies that formerly focused on arthouse projects say they have instead been more concerned with making movies for mainstream crowds. For Charades’ Pierre Mazars, that means producing commercially driven, English-language projects such as “Sanctuary,” a twisty thriller featuring Margaret Qualley as a dominatrix. That movie has sold to most major territories, including nabbing a distribution deal from Neon’s boutique label, Super.
“Sanctuary,” however, was produced and debuted before the writers went on strike. So for other filmmakers hoping that their scripts get picked up by studios, one basic hurdle remains: if, how and when will these projects get made?
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn took to Twitter to debunk a recent Harley Quinn DCU rumor.
According to Twitter user DCU Leaks, Margot Robbie will no longer reprise Harley Quinn due to her rumored casting as Sue Storm in Marvel Studios‘ Fantastic Four. Gunn called the user out in public – both for the rumor and for continuing to post lies for attention.
Gunn first worked with Robbie in 2021’s The Suicide Squad, which served as Harley Quinn’s latest live-action appearance. Since then, the filmmaker has been very vocal about his love for the character, whom he enjoys writing, directing, and creating stories for. He also previously confirmed that Harley Quinn will continue to appear in future DC projects.
Dude, why do you just keep posting lies? Sometimes they’re just stupid made up stuff. But other times, making up bullshit like this about people I care about, can be hurtful. Maybe you’re having a difficult time in life & lying for attention is how you get solace. But please find…
Robbie first appeared as Harley Quinn in David Ayer’s 2016 film Suicide Squad. She earned praise from both critics and the audiences for her spot-on portrayal of the DC villain, despite the film’s underwhelming commercial and critical performance. Robbie reprised the role in 2020’s Birds of Prey, which featured Harley breaking away from her toxic relationship with the Joker and becoming her own person.
Robbie also previously expressed her interest in bringing the pairing of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy on the big screen. According to her, the actress has already asked Warner Bros. to introduce Harley’s best friend-turned-lover into the live-action DC movies.
Besides Robbie, Harley Quinn is also currently being portrayed by Kaley Cuoco in Max’s popular animated series – now in its fourth season. Oscar winner Lady Gaga has also signed on to play another live-action version of Harley Quinn in the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux, which will feature the return of Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime.
We may never see other phenomenon like “Squid Game.” Hopefully we do. The Emmys are the kind of voting body/cultural institution that should get that yearly kind of external shakeup, just as film awards have seen non-English language productions catch fire with the public and capture awards attention. Getting to that point for “Squid Game” meant legendary word of mouth, Netflix backing, and a quality series with elements that made voting for it all the easier, a perfect Emmys storm.
But even if those lightning-in-a-bottle circumstances are seemingly impossible to recapture on purpose, the success of “Squid Game” did lay out a roadmap for other potential international hits to succeed on their own. A year after a genuine phenomenon, it seems like the TV world has largely waited for Season 2 of that show to be the next international series to enjoy that kind of success.
What if we didn’t have to wait?
In a theoretical world where international series didn’t have to overperform at an historic level to get that kind of attention, a lot of other pieces from the “Squid Game” puzzle are spread out among other worthy series deserving of at least a look. They may not end up in the biggest conversations when Emmy voting opens June 15, but here are a few elements from last year’s breakout that you can find in this year’s crop of shows from around the world.
Drafting Off of a Proven Winner
Song Hye-kyo in “The Glory”Graphyoda/Netflix
“Squid Game” was a high-concept execution of a basic premise. It’s a survival story that’s easy to grasp. Similarly, the year’s biggest Korean drama candidate that could have taken a slot operate on a similar basic premise. Netflix’s “The Glory,” released in two parts at the turn of the calendar year and right in the heart of Emmys ramp-up, tells the story of a woman out for revenge against the bullies from her school days. “The Glory” offers a different brand of twisted escapism. Led by Song Hye-kyo delivering the kind of exacting performance that requires different forms of transformation as the series goes on, “The Glory” lives in that murky area without clearly-defined heroes or villains. It’s a crowded Best Drama Actress field already, but few of those contenders do as much to carry their respective series as Song has done over 16 episodes.
The next few months are set to be dominated by HBO series about children struggling for control of their patriarch’s family business. (One is currently airing, but don’t forget the one debuting its third season right after the eligibility window closes.) For those looking for a less-caustic financial empire than news conglomerates or megachurches, consider…wine. “Drops of God” is the latest entry in Apple TV+’s upper echelon of primarily non-English language series (joining “Losing Alice” and “Pachinko”), one that centers on an elaborate, two-person competition for the reins of a world-famous wine guide and the largest private cellar in the world. One is the late renowned wine expert’s protege, while the other is his estranged daughter. Showrunner Quoc Dang Tran (whose French Disney+ series “Parallels” does teen-centered, dimension-hopping sci-fi far better than “Stranger Things” ever has) took on the challenge of adapting a popular Japanese manga and made it into a series that’s intimate, but still has a globe-hopping, cross-continental feel.
With “Euphoria” out of the race this year, the opportunity is there for something like “Class” to fill the void of the modern teen story. Itself an adaptation of runaway Netflix hit “Élite,” “Class” follows a group of new students at a well-to-do private school in Mumbai as they learn the inner workings and teen hierarchies there. (For more on how “Class” brings some depth and insight into what could have easily been a simple, formulaic translation to a new country’s school system, read Proma Khosla’s piece on the new season.) There’s enough familiarity in the setup and difference in the execution that can lead to an accessible contender.
Sometimes, having an awards-ready story puts you right in a logjam. For all the serial killer stories released between last June and this June, the most well-told might well by “Black Butterflies,” a French Netflix drama. Confrontational in how it puts forth ideas of power, memory, and cyclical violence, the series (co-headlined by global star Niels Arestrup) makes for an interesting counter to the murder-centric docudramas that are at the heart of a number of campaigns this year, not just from Netflix’s side. Widen out the crime scope a little wider and you have the raw power of “Snabba Cash,” a Stockholm-set Netflix drama with a second season that’s as ready-made for drama-hungry audiences as its first one was.
Crime stories are one of the most fertile areas for recent Emmys success in the drama categories, outpaced maybe only by lush period pieces. Speaking of which….
Costumes and Color
“The Empress”Netflix
An undeniable part of the visual “Squid Game” appeal was that massive collection of costumes. Though the irony of wearing them as a costume was probably lost on a good portion of the people who dressed up in pinks and greens and masks for Halloween, the fact it got that far was a testament to how distinct the visual appeal of the show tied into its ultimate success.
Though, costumes represents another area where breaking in this year would be extremely difficult. “Queen Charlotte” and “The Crown” already have the Netflix pushes, a shame considering that “The Empress” would make another period piece with its own elaborate pedigree. Premiering on the platform in the wake of “Dahmer” last fall, the German series looks at the mid-1800s ascension of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Devrim Lingnau) as she helps lay the groundwork for the eventual nearly 50-year reign along with husband Emperor Franz Joseph I (Philip Froissant). With Hulu’s “The Great” entrenched in the comedy category, “The Empress” could have provided any other platform/network with a chance to crack a category that tends to favor the more lavish details of European royalty (especially one that features at least one character’s rise to prominence).
And a series doesn’t have to be fantastical or set in another century’s royal court to be appreciated for its distinctive craft elements. Take Prime Video’s Italian import “Prisma,” a gentle and grounded story of two twin siblings, each approaching the end of their teenage years embracing different parts of their identities. Each of the eight episodes is centered on a different color, which not only helps mark the chapter-by-chapter changes, but also gives each a distinct palette without ever feeling like a cheap storytelling gimmick. There’s a patience and care in the series that represents a different shade of boldness for those looking to single out a unique visual approach.
You can narrow down the “Squid Game” appeal to that visual flair, the metaphorical throughline, or the life-and-death stakes. But a lot of that secret sauce comes down to the fact that those setpieces were unpredictable. They tapped into a warped version of a variety show, where losing meant dying.
That’s a dark recipe to replicate, but “Alice in Borderland” already helped lay the groundwork for the “Squid Game” sensation to follow with its debut season in 2020, priming audiences for another eerie, other-wordly competition bathed in competition-based violence. “Alice in Borderland” takes place in a mysterious alternate version of Tokyo where inhabitants have to play in elaborate challenges to stay alive. The centerpiece sequence in the show’s opening episode saw a handful of its main characters wandering around a deserted, carless, pedestrian-free city square. Last December’s Season 2 kicked off with one of the more impressive car chases TV has ever put together, a bravura bit of setpiece magic from director Shinsuke Sato and a production design team that helped build an uncanny valley version of a giant Japanese metropolis, in some cases from scratch. (While we’re at it, let’s also get a Supporting Actor effort going for Nijirô Murakami, who single-handedly carries his portion of Season 2.)
“Oh Hell,” one of the international series that managed to survive the Great HBO Max Content Purge of 2022, has a different form of the game-like, anarchic spirit that voters recognize on the comedy side. Debuting on the platform last fall, it follows listless Helene as she navigates a job she doesn’t care about, a less-than-fulfilling romantic life, and her impulsive decision to make a cello teacher the man of her dreams. It’s overly reductive to call this show the German “Fleabag,” but it’s ideal for anyone desperate for that style of laughs in the comedy categories. Mala Emde delivers the kind of central performance tightrope walk that’s fascinating to watch whether or not Helene gets away with her schemes and increasingly outrageous life choices. What better game is there?
Based on a True Story
“Spy/Master”
Yes, we’re well aware that there (probably) isn’t actually some private island where desperate competitors are vying to outlast 455 others for a giant cash prize. But if “Squid Game” is truly a unique instance in international TV at the Emmys, there’s also a chance to dip into a successful area that existed long before it: Draw from real life.
As Disney+ and Hulu reach their own crossroads (and see the gradual global dominating reach of their core franchises starting to deflate), they have a steadily building library of international series to help buttress the offerings in the minds of people looking to sign up for more than superheroes and space. Last year’s “Oussekine” brought a four-part telling of the 1986 police killing of student Malik Oussekine, and his family’s subsequent search for justice. This year, there’s “The Good Mothers,” a British-Italian co-production about a group of woman who worked together to break up the ‘Ndrangheta crime family in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Set in the not-so-distant 2010, the series also has the global-attention pedigree of airing at the Berlinale back in February.
Maybe the solution going forward is something closer to what “Spy/Master” will look to do for a revamped Max in the weeks to come. The latest in a line of Cold War dramas, this new one will turn its attention to a global effort to extract a burned undercover agent inside the inner circle of former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Victor Godeanu (Alec Secareanu) is a fictional character, but the idea of setting a co-produced story against the backdrop of a real-life event might be a growing idea for an international TV market. Speaking at SeriesFest in Denver last week during a panel focusing on co-productions, Secuoya Studios executive Sergio Pizzolante said, “I would recommend historical fiction, if you find a big historical event and you find a reason for you to tell that story…It’s easier said than done, but that’s a good point to start.”
Bringing all of these shows closer to the foreground in the Emmys conversation serves a bigger purpose, especially for those platforms still looking to define what they bring to a crowded streaming field. If investment of time and resources into awards strategies is ultimately a different form of marketing to show off to the rest of the TV world what you stand for and what you have to offer, these are the kind of shows that are worth a push, even if they’ll never be a generational-level phenomenon.
Gordon Lightfoot, the beloved Canadian singer-songwriter, died on May 1 at age 84. At Royal Albert Hall is out July 14 via Linus Entertainment. The label calls it his final album.
It features Rick Haynes on bass, Barry Keane on drums, Mike Heffernan on keys, and Carter Lancaster on guitar. It features many of his most beloved songs, including “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Early Morning Rain,” and more. Find the tracklist below.
At Royal Albert Hall:
01 The Watchman’s Gone 02 Sea of Tranquility 03 Now and Then 04 All the Lovely Ladies 05 Drifters 06 A Painter Passing Through 07 Christian Island 08 Rainy Day People 09 Shadows 10 Beautiful 11 Carefree Highway 12 Did She Mention My Name 13 Ribbon of Darkness 14 Sundown 15 Sweet Guinevere 16 The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald 17 Never Too Close 18 Don Quixote 19 Minstrel of the Dawn 20 I’d Rather Press On 21 Let It Ride 22 If You Could Read My Mind 23 Restless 24 Baby Step Back 25 Early Morning Rain 26 Waiting For You
The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, is one of the most prestigious and recognized awards ceremonies in the entertainment industry. Winning an Oscar is often considered the pinnacle of an actor’s career, as it represents a significant recognition of their talent and hard work.
However, the process of winning an Oscar is often shrouded in mystery and speculation. One common question that arises is whether an actor’s previous track record influences their chances of receiving an Oscar. Some argue that an actor’s past success or failure may affect their reputation among industry professionals and impact their chances of winning an Oscar.
This essay seeks to explore the relationship between an actor’s previous track record and their likelihood of winning an Oscar. By examining case studies and analyzing various factors that contribute to an actor’s Oscar success, this essay will aim to provide insight into the impact, if any, that an actor’s previous track record has on their Oscar chances.
The Importance of an Oscar
The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, is an annual event held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which recognizes excellence in the film industry. The first Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929, and since then, it has become one of the most significant and anticipated events in the entertainment industry.
Winning an Oscar is a significant achievement for actors, as it not only recognizes their talent and hard work, but also has the potential to catapult them into greater fame and success. The impact of winning an Oscar on an actor’s career is often immense, as it can lead to higher pay, more challenging roles, and greater opportunities in the industry.
For instance, Meryl Streep is one of the most acclaimed and decorated actors in Hollywood history, having won three Oscars and been nominated for an additional 18 awards. Streep’s success at the Oscars has contributed to her reputation as one of the most talented and respected actors in the industry, and has opened up doors for her to take on challenging and diverse roles throughout her career.
Similarly, the impact of winning an Oscar can extend beyond an actor’s immediate career prospects. For example, winning an Oscar can increase an actor’s prestige and influence within the industry, making them more desirable for future projects and collaborations. Additionally, an Oscar win can also have a positive impact on an actor’s personal life, as it can bring them greater recognition and validation from peers and fans alike.
Factors That Influence Oscar Success
An actor’s previous track record may be a factor in their likelihood of winning an Oscar, but it is by no means the only factor. Various other factors come into play, such as the quality of the performance, the strength of the competition, and the buzz surrounding the film.
The quality of an actor’s performance is perhaps the most crucial factor in determining their Oscar chances. A standout performance can capture the attention of the Academy voters and elevate an actor’s profile, regardless of their previous track record. Similarly, the strength of the competition can have a significant impact on an actor’s Oscar chances. For example, a particularly strong year for performances may make it more challenging for any individual actor to stand out from the crowd and secure an Oscar win.
Another factor that can influence an actor’s Oscar chances is the buzz surrounding the film in which they appear. This buzz can come from a variety of sources, such as critical acclaim, box office success, or word of mouth. In some cases, an actor’s performance may be overshadowed by the overall success of the film, making it more challenging for them to win an Oscar.
While an actor’s previous track record may influence some of these factors, such as the buzz surrounding the film or their overall reputation within the industry, it does not guarantee Oscar success. Ultimately, the decision of who will get the Oscar rests with the Academy voters, who are known for their unpredictable voting patterns. As a result, many people turn to gambling to try and predict the outcome of the Oscars. For instance, sites like Oscars betting odds lists review page provide useful insights and information for people looking to bet on the Oscars.
In conclusion, while an actor’s previous track record may be a factor in their Oscar success, there are various other factors that come into play. An outstanding performance, strong competition, and buzz surrounding the film can all have a significant impact on an actor’s likelihood of winning an Oscar. Ultimately, it is the Academy voters who decide who will get the Oscar, making the outcome of the ceremony notoriously difficult to predict, but also making it an exciting opportunity for gambling and speculation.
Case Studies
To explore the relationship between an actor’s previous track record and their likelihood of winning an Oscar, it’s helpful to examine the Oscar history of a few select actors. By analyzing the factors that contributed to their success or failure, we can gain insight into the impact of an actor’s previous track record on their Oscar chances.
One example of an actor whose previous track record has not necessarily guaranteed Oscar success is Leonardo DiCaprio. Despite being considered one of the most talented and accomplished actors of his generation, DiCaprio struggled to win an Oscar for many years. He was nominated for five Oscars before finally winning in 2016 for his performance in “The Revenant.” While his previous track record undoubtedly helped build his reputation and credibility in the industry, it was his exceptional performance in “The Revenant” that ultimately secured his Oscar win.
On the other hand, some actors have experienced significant Oscar success throughout their careers, thanks in part to their strong previous track record. Meryl Streep, for example, has won three Oscars and been nominated for an additional 18 awards, making her one of the most decorated actors in Hollywood history. Streep’s previous track record has undoubtedly contributed to her reputation as one of the most talented and respected actors in the industry, and has likely played a role in her consistent success at the Oscars.
However, even for actors with strong previous track records, other factors can come into play when it comes to Oscar success. For instance, Tom Hanks has won two Oscars and is considered one of the most talented actors of his generation, but he has also experienced several Oscar snubs over the years. Similarly, Denzel Washington has won two Oscars and been nominated for a total of nine awards, but has also experienced several years where he was overlooked by the Academy.
Overall
In conclusion, the question of whether an actor’s previous track record influences their chances of winning an Oscar is a complex one. While an actor’s past success or failure may impact their reputation and influence some of the factors that contribute to Oscar success, it is not necessarily a guarantee of success.
Factors such as the quality of an actor’s performance, the strength of the competition, and the buzz surrounding the film are all crucial factors that come into play when it comes to winning an Oscar. As we have seen through case studies of actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Denzel Washington, an actor’s previous track record can influence their Oscar success to some extent, but it is far from the only factor at play.
Ultimately, the decision of who will win an Oscar rests with the Academy voters, who are known for their unpredictable voting patterns. This unpredictability has made the Oscars an exciting event to follow and speculate on, leading to a rise in gambling and betting on the outcome. For instance, sites like Oscars betting odds lists review page provide valuable insights and information for people interested in betting on the Oscars.
For the second consecutive parliamentary election, Cambodia has disqualified the country’s main opposition party, eliminating the only credible challenge to the ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The country’s National Election Commission on Monday refused to register the party, the Candlelight Party, for a general election scheduled in July, saying it had failed to file required paperwork and was therefore ineligible to take part in the contest.
Mr. Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party currently holds all 125 seats in Parliament after government-controlled courts dissolved its main challenger, the Cambodian National Rescue Party, or C.N.R.P., before the 2018 election. The Candlelight Party, with many of the same members, took its place.
Opposition party members said they would appeal the Election Commission ruling. After the C.N.R.P. was dissolved in 2017, Mr. Hun Sen has moved on several fronts to neutralize the remaining opposition. Government-controlled courts convicted about 100 opposition figures of treason and other charges, jailing some and prompting several of its leaders to flee into exile.
The most prominent opposition figure to remain in Cambodia, Kem Sokha, was tried on a charge of treason and sentenced in March to 27 years of house arrest. In February, the government shut down a popular news outlet, Voice of Democracy, claiming it had published a false report. It was one of the few remaining publications to provide critical coverage of the government.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission said at the time that “these actions seriously undermine the civic and political space, including the environment for free and fair elections in July.” Last month, Human Rights Watch accused the Cambodian government of stepping up verbal attacks that had led to violent assaults on members of the Candlelight Party.
“Dismantling opposition parties and disqualifying, assaulting and arresting their members before election day means that there won’t be any real election at all,” it said in a statement.
Members of the Candlelight Party said the Election Commission had demanded original copies of official party documents, which they said they no longer had because they had been seized in a police raid in 2017.
After its ruling, the Election Commission said it had approved the registration of more than 10 other parties. These parties included those aligned with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or small, obscure parties that do not pose a serious electoral challenge to the prime minister.
Mr. Hun Sen, 70, has held power for 38 years, eliminating opposition through the courts, through electoral manipulation, through violence and intimidation, and a coup in 1997. He has anointed his eldest son, Army chief Hun Manet, to succeed him and has indicated that the transition of family power would follow this year’s election in July.
“This is a very dangerous year for Hun Sen,” Sam Rainsy, a prominent opposition leader, wrote from exile in an essay published online earlier this month. “It’s the year when he decided to establish a political dynasty straight after the elections,” he wrote.
The writers strike may bring about a disturbance in the force. The current work stoppage already has disrupted the production of several TV series; Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian may join the last.
According to sources, the flagship Disney+ series will likely push the start of production for Season 4. While not officially announced, a fourth season has been fully expected; series creator Jon Favreau confirmed earlier this year that the scripts for the new installment had all been completed.
I hear filming on Season 4 of The Mandalorian has been slated to begin in September. While there is some breathing room, I hear filming will likely be delayed. A rep for Lucasfilm had no comment.
During a WGA strike, there is no writer present on set. Additionally, picketing often interrupts production as teamsters and crew members refuse to cross, which is what recently happened with fellow Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again. The writers strike, which started May 2, is entering its third week.
The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal as Mando, Carl Weathers (bounty hunter leader Greef Karga), Giancarlo Esposito (bad guy Moff Gideon), and Katee Sackhoff (Mandalorian Bo-Katen Kryze). Christopher Lloyd was a new Season 3 addition, joining the human cast as well as fan-favorite Baby Yoda.
Twitter has been dramatically transformed under Musk, and few — even among some in the billionaire’s corner — say the changes have been for the better. In recent weeks, government agencies, news organizations and powerful social media influencers have questioned the usefulness of the platform, with some major players publicly abandoning their accounts or telling users that they can’t rely on it for urgent information.
Advertisers have fled in droves over Musk’s policy changes and erratic behavior on the site, causing advertising revenue to recently drop by as much as 75 percent, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive internal information. Rounds of layoffs have left Twitter operating with a skeleton staff of 1,500 — an 80 percent reduction — and the platform is so riddled with bugs and glitches that the site goes down for hours at a time. Meanwhile, the company’s valuation has cratered, Musk has said, to less than half the $44 billion he paid when he bought the company roughly six months ago.
Along with culture changes, Musk has reinvented the platform in ways that have confused users, who once knew Twitter as a widely admired news aggregator.
CNN shrugged off and even scolded critics of the Donald Trump town hall it aired on May 10. But while the network is still obstinately standing by that event, viewers, it turns out, aren’t standing by the network.
The town hall initially gave CNN a rare primetime win, with 3.3 million viewers tuning in, firmly making it number one in ratings among the other cable news networks. But just two days later, primetime viewership cratered, putting CNN in fourth place behind shoestring-budgeted right wing outlet Newsmax.
During Friday’s primetime, CNN brought in a dismal 335,000 viewers total on average, according to Nielsen live plus same-day figures. Newsmax beat that handily with an average of 357,000 total viewers. Both networks were well behind MSNBC’s total primetime viewership of 1.1 million and Fox News Channel’s 1.4 million total viewers.
CNN regained its lead on Newsmax in the key cable news demographic among adults 25-54, however, with CNN bringing in 87,000 viewers in the demo while Newsmax drew in 45,000 viewers in the demo. CNN was just shy of MSNBC’s demo viewership of 98,000 while Fox News swept the cable news channels with 109,000 viewers in the demo on average.
The trend continued through the cable news channel’s hourly programming, with Newsmax scoring higher total viewership for each hour than CNN, though CNN beat Newsmax in the demo for each timeslot. The widest hourly gap was at 9 p.m., when CNN’s “The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper” brought in 293,000 total viewers while Newsmax’s “Chris Plante The Right Squad,” drew in 325,000. Conversely, in the same 9 p.m. timeslot, CNN scored 85,000 viewers in the demo while Newsmax brought in 35,000 viewers in the demo.
Backlash to the townhall began even as it aired, as critics noted how with very few exceptions, moderator (and former Tucker Carlson employee) Kaitlan Collins allowed Trump to lie, repeatedly, speak vile falsehoods about abortion, and even defame E. Jean Carroll literally a day after she successfully sued him for sexual assault and, yes, defamation.
After it ended, several prominent media critics and journalists called on CEO Chris Licht to resign over the debacle, and there were multiple reports that there was backlash among CNN employees too. But CNN responded with what can only be described as escalating smugness and petulance.
Three hours after the town hall ended — long after it was clear that the overwhelming response to it was harsh criticism — CNN released a statement insisting that Collins was “tough, fair and revealing,” and that the event exemplified the network’s “responsibility” to “hold the powerful to account.”
That naturally failed to quell critics, including within CNN; Media reporter, Oliver Darcy published a scathing assessment 15 minutes after the network’s statement was sent out.
The next morning, in a meeting with employees, Licht insisted “I absolutely unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night.”
This also failed to tamp the backlash down, so Thursday night, CNN’s primetime star Anderson Cooper made comments that essentially accused people who objected to the town hall of being narrow minded. This got him labeled a “gaslighting scold,” by critics, along with unsubstantiated speculation that he’d made these remarks on orders of the network’s executives.
If Hollywood is a film buffet, Sydney Sweeney has the most items on her plate. The 25-year-old has taken too many projects this year and is barely spotted spending free time. However, when it comes to family, Sweeney tries to keep all her work aside and prioritize it. Mainly when it’s about doing something special for her mother with whom she is very close.
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Sweeney had quite a busy 2023 up to now where she completed a film, did shoots and endorsements for over 5 brands, and also appeared at the Met Gala. Hence, she barely got time to spend with her family. And since it was the occasion of Mother’s Day, Sweeney saw the perfect opportunity to catch up with her momma. She yesterday put a story on her Instagram, wishing her mother a “Happy Mother’s Day.”
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After posting a picture with her mother, the Euphoria actress showed in the next story what she did for her mother. She went to a wax studio to create a handmade candle for her mother. That was a thoughtful and cute gift from her given that she loves to create.
While she celebrated a happening Mother’s Day with her Momma, this is not the first time she has done something special for her.
Sydney Sweeney once threw her mom a sixtieth birthday hoedown
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Last year, Sweeney’s mom hit the age mark of sixty and, hence, her daughter went big. She threw her mother a sixtieth birthday hoedown, to which all of her close family and friends were invited. The beautiful blonde also shared some good shots from the celebration on her Instagram.
However, one thing that went wrong with this celebration was it started a controversy. Sweeney had specially got designed “Make Sixty Great Again” cowboy hats for her mother’s birthday party. Apparently, people compared it with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign and slammed the actress for being political. However, she later posted a clarification for it, but sadly the damage was done.
The Writers Guild of America announced Monday that it would not picket Broadway’s annual prizes, scheduled for June 11, thereby allowing the event to proceed — albeit in altered form.
“Tony Awards Productions (a joint venture of the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing) has communicated with us that they are altering this year’s show to conform with specific requests from the WGA, and therefore the WGA will not be picketing the show,” the WGA said in a statement.
The guild did not specify the nature of the changes. The New York Times reported that the ceremony would include the presentation of awards and live performances of numbers from Broadway shows, but not any material scripted by screenwriters. A representative for the Tony Awards did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plan comes after the Tony Awards Management Committee and broadcast partner CBS on Friday canceled the June 11 live telecast over fears that the event would be doomed bythe threat of a picket line, which members of the creative community would be unlikely to cross. CBS is part of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group against which the WGA is striking.
“Responsibility for having to make changes to the format of the 2023 Tony Awards rests squarely on the shoulders of Paramount/CBS and their allies,” the union said in its statement Monday. “They continue to refuse to negotiate a fair contract for the writers represented by the WGA. As they have stood by us, we stand with our fellow workers on Broadway who are impacted by our strike.”
The 76th Tony Awards is the first major awards show to be affected by the writers’ strike. Although the Broadway fete is less a ratings boon than a prestigious event for CBS — last year’s event drew 3.9 million viewers, the ceremony’s second-lowest viewership recorded — the show is important to Broadway producers, who rely on the exposure on the national network to market their productions. The televised ceremony doubles as a widely seen advertisement for what’s currently playing; oftentimes, productions struggling to fill its seats will stay open in hopes that a win, or even exposure via a notable musical number, will boost ticket sales.
Past irregular versions of the Tonys have not gone over well with viewers. The very delayed 2021 ceremony, which was split up into an awards show and concert across CBS and Paramount, garnered only 2.77 million viewers on CBS. The 2023 awards show is the first to celebrate the first full season after the COVID-19 pandemic closed Broadway for 18 months, from which numerous Broadway productions are still struggling to regain their footing.
This Tony year’s nominations are led by the stage adaptation of “Some Like It Hot” with 13 nods, followed by the new musicals “& Juliet,” “Shucked” and “New York, New York,” each with nine nominations, and the critically lauded “Kimberly Akimbo” with eight. Additionally, J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell made history as the first nonbinary-identifying actors to be nominated for Tonys.
Among the Hollywood names who received nominations were Jessica Chastain, Ben Platt, Jodie Comer, Josh Groban, Samuel L. Jackson, Corey Hawkins, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sara Bareilles, Wendell Pierce and Sean Hayes.
Quantumania has its fans, however, who especially praised its villain, Kang the Conqueror (played by embattled actor Jonathan Majors). And it’s possible that the consensus on Quantumania might improve upon further viewing when it’s put on Disney+.
When watching Quantumania, it’s clear that a lot of thought was put into the design and functions of the Quantum Realm, where most of the film’s runtime is spent.
Hosts of new characters and creatures that reside in the realm were seen, ranging from the quirky and loveable to the monstrous. There was even a guy who looks like broccoli.
Most of these beings were created mainly with digital effects, and even though there were some who sharply criticized Ant-Man 3’s heavy use of CGI, it’s hard to deny that there were some interesting and visually compelling designs that were brought to life.
Hopefully, this episode of Marvel Studios Assembled sheds some light on the visual design process that went into making the movie. Quantumania presented the Quantum Realm as an expansive and multifaceted locale, and many would surely find it interesting to learn what it took to bring some of these outlandish and fantastical concepts to the big screen.
Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania closed out its box office run at around 475 million dollars, meaning it definitely wasn’t the most profitable or well-liked MCU movie, but much like 2021’s Eternals, it could have a bit of a second life once it drops on Disney+ on Wednesday, May 17.
The Congregation is an atmospherically dark and psychologically stimulating Nordic Noir series about a young woman who becomes entrapped in a religious cult in Sweden. The protagonist, Anna, enthrallingly portrayed by actress Alba August(A Thousand Hours), has a pure heart and a palpable naïveté, both of which lead her down a detrimental path. It is a captivating combination for a suspenseful-paced series in which viewers will simultaneously cringe at Anna’s choices and yet, due to the sophistication of the storytelling, completely understand. The temptation of walking into one’s own peril, in Anna’s case, leads to homicide.
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When Anna moves to a neighboring Swedish town called Knutby in order to fully immerse herself into a church congregation she feels at home in, she ends up becoming a nanny for the pastor and his wife and wants nothing more than to serve God among their close-knit sect. After growing up without her mother, whose death occurred when Anna was a little girl, she finally feels the relief of having a seemingly safe place to belong.
Although things should be amazing from there, this is not the end of a fairy tale. It’s the beginning to Anna’s nightmarish journey, chock-full of people with mysterious motivations and a twisted undercurrent of sexual manipulations. Within the church community, there are subtle moves of deception as well as blatant displays of power. The brainwashing is obvious to viewers due to an omniscient vantage point, but only one character — the pastor’s wife, Kristina — seems resistant to the lures while Anna walks in blinded faith.
Based on Jonas Bonnier’s novel, Knutby, this scripted series is inspired by true-life incidents that were also explored in HBO’s documentary Pray, Obey, Kill. The Congregation effectively and emotionally explores what lures someone, at free will, to become willingly ensconced within a cult. And even more so, how complicated it all becomes in order for them to leave once the reality of the group’s intentions is revealed. Alba August (daughter of the famous director Bille August) sat down with MovieWeb to speak about The Congregation, which is now streaming in the U.S. for the first time, through Viaplay.
How Alba August Got Hooked On Belonging
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From her home in Stockholm, August provided insight into what drew her to the role and, despite the inevitability of sensationalizing the real-life events, what she hopes viewers will take away from the series beyond enthralling, gripping television.
“It all started when I read a book, in Swedish, about a real-life woman, ‘the babysitter’ is what everyone called her,” explained August. “I read her story and I called my agent and I said, ‘We have to buy the rights to adapt this book’…“
August’s agent then discovered that a series was already in development with B-Reel Films and that the project would be based on Bonnier’s novel, not the book which she had been so drawn to. Unlike the book that August had read, which focused only on the nanny/babysitter, the series was going to explore the entire cult community in which real-life Sara Svensson had been entrapped.
August’s response remained excited and insistent, however. “Okay, then,” said the actor. “Well, I have to get in contact with them. I’m so obsessed with this story and this character.”
From there, they let the production company know of August’s firm interest. Their response was favorable, and they asked her to sign on to portray Anna. While “Anna” and all the names in the series were changed, the plot unfolds just as did the actual events.
August was delighted to be attached. “So, that’s how it all started,” she explained. “And, from there, we kind of developed the whole project. It was super cool because the producers were so curious and open to my thoughts on everything. I was super involved from the beginning, which was so nice.”
Alba August’s Attraction to the Knutby Role
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When asked what it was about the real-life character from Knutby that drew her to be so interested in the performance, August explained how she identified with the role. “She has this drive, and yet she’s too kind to the point that she wants to please everyone. She is super complex, and I was just fascinated by her. And, obviously, the other characters as well.”
Regarding her interest in the world of religious cults, August further revealed, “I’ve always been super interested in psychology — I even wanted to be a therapist when I was a kid — and how the human mind is and how we work and act together. I have always just been drawn to the idea of communities.” She continued:
“In a way, I think I have always dreamed of being a part of a group like that, of belonging to a community. It’s the longing of being a part of something, and I guess that comes from feeling alone, basically. I felt lonely as a kid, and I still do in a way, so I think I was dreaming of community and the idea was interesting.”
On whether she, herself, found that fulfillment of belonging, August nostalgically added, “I experienced community a bit when I went to theater school in Copenhagen in my early 20s, and even that, too, was like a sect. We felt like we were the most important people in the whole world, like what we were doing was magic. We felt like it was us against the world.”
It’s quite an interesting point for viewers to consider. Like Anna, don’t we all just want a place to belong? The thought alone normalizes the character’s initial intent, but August goes on to make it clear that this contemplation isn’t for the sake of a cult’s redemption.
The Pitfalls of Fitting In
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It’s staggering to realize how easily a group can be defined as a cult. Basically, it is a group of people united by shared beliefs about life. It requires leadership and deep commitment from its members.
How then, does it all become so tragic? What is the root of the flaw?
In addition to the real-life events that inspired The Congregation series, there are many infamous cults. There was the People’s Temple cult (or Jonestown), Scientology, The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and thousands more across the globe. With most having initially positive intentions, how does it so often go astray from that? What triggers the horror stories that we so often read about?
“I think this series is like a picture of how the human mind works. These kinds of sect communities will always exist in the world,” said August. “I think it’s impossible to get rid of them.” August notes the one universal fatal flaw in these cults, their common denominator: “People with power will always kind of misuse it. So this series is ultimately research on how maybe we can all learn from that.”
While The Congregation is a highly intriguing series meant for viewers’ entertainment, August added a conscientious reminder about the intended takeaway of the production, the actual people on which the story is based.
“I want to give the people who were involved justice, in some way,” noted August, “especially my character […] She went through so much and I just hope that this can give her, if it’s possible, in a way, her life back.”
The Congregation was adapted for the screen by Fredrik Agetoft and also stars Aliette Opheim (Black Crab) and Elinar Bredefeldt (Dystopia). It made its U.S. premiere on May 11th exclusively on the streaming platform Viaplay, the Nordic home for dark, thrilling, and psychologically penetrating content including scripted crime series and true-crime documentaries.
Such a shame, I was really hoping after TotK and with the Switch successor in the future they’d move on and go back to doing a more traditional Zelda game, even a hybrid of sorts just with small hub like areas.
It’s like when Assassins Creed moved from these dense like, in depth cities to huge open world games starting with Origins, yeah it revamped it and become popular but you loose the “essence” if you will of what made the originals so great and true to the franchises name.
I mean if they had this plan in place where we were getting full on remakes of Ocarina of Time, Majoras Mask or even a 3D version of A Link to the Past alongside the newer games then at least then you are catering to two audiences but aren’t.
Anyway we’d have to wait and see, remember at one time Eiji Aonuma said motion controls was the future of the series and didn’t see himself going back when Skyward Sword released.
London and Paris-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation, which is handling international sales, has posted a first image ahead of unveiling a trailer in a pre-official Marché du Film kick-off screening on Monday.
In a world where the inconvenience of human emotion has been eradicated by a government-imposed daily vitamin, Powley (A Small Light, The King of Staten Island, The Diary of A Teenage Girl) and Robinson (Love, Simon., Maid, Jurassic World) play a couple who skip their daily dose.
They discover love, joy and sex for the first time, but quickly come to realize they must also handle the emotional baggage that comes with it.
Justin H.Min (Beef, After Yang, Umbrella Academy), Emmy nominee D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place, Barry, Broad City), Nesta Cooper (Cold Copy, Bliss) and Griffin Newman (The Tick) round out the cast.
Turn Me On is the second collaboration between director Michael Tyburski and Film Constellation following his Sundance hit The Sound Of Silence, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Rashida Jones.
UTA and CAA Media Finance co-rep North America.
Turn Me On is produced by Zareh Nalbandian, Toby Nalbandian and Gregory Schmidt of Truant Pictures, a division of Animal Logic Entertainment (Peter Rabbit 1&2), and producer Sean Bradley (Paddleton). The script is written by Angela Bourassa who is also serving as executive producer.
Powley is represented by UTA, Curtis Brown and Jackoway Austen.
“The world is changed. I feel it in the water. We feel it in the earth. We smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.”
But at least one key player is itching to get back to the Misty Mountains. Always ready to throw on some spandex and an assortment of ping-pong balls, Andy Serkis has tossed his digital hat in the ring [pun unintentional] for another stab at throttling those tricksy hobbitses.
“I adore those guys and they are a second family to me,” Serkis told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve spent so many years making films with them. I love their sensibility and their take; it’s filmmaking on a different kind of level. You live and breathe it. And so, yes, if some opportunity were to come up, it would be an amazing thing.”
Their Overstock Is Your Savings Amazon overstocked on a ton of everyday items, and they’re all up to 50% off. Whatever is on your list to grab this week, they probably have a sale.
Thankfully, those three Ring War veterans seem open to returning. Upon the initial announcement of the films, Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens said they have been kept “in the loop every step of the way.” Even more promising, they claimed to “look forward to speaking with [New Line] further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.” Ok, so maybe that’s not really anything. However, Elijah Wood, our Frodo, was a little more in line with the general audience’s reaction to the news, saying that he hopes “it’s good.”
“I’m surprised,” Wood told GQ. “I don’t know why I’m surprised because, of course there would be more movies.” Wood brings up a good point: We don’t know why any of this is surprising.
In her first televised interview since winning her lawsuit against Donald Trump, E. Jean Carroll and her attorney, Robbie Kaplan, appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” to talk about that case. But of course Maddow brought up a related matter: CNN’s ill-advised, poorly received Trump town hall.
At one point, Maddow asked Kaplan and Carroll a question that critics of the town hall have asked since it aired — could the disparaging comments Trump made about Carroll during the event get him sued again? According to Kaplan, “definitely.”
You’ll recall that during the town hall, Trump repeatedly defamed Carroll. And of course, he did so literally one day after the jury in Carroll’s lawsuit found him liable for sexual assault and defamation.
During the interview, Maddow got to this topic first by listing things Trump said about Carroll that made him liable in her lawsuit. “Then he did it again,” she continued. “The defamation. The calling you a liar. The exact same things the jury held him liable for the day before, he did again the next day on national television. Is that just the way it has to be? Do you think that potentially could be actionable, if you were to file another suit? Would it work the same way?”
“So it’s definitely actionable,” Kaplan replied. “And here the cruelty will make him less wealthy. He is not going to get away with it another time. It’s unprecedented for a person to have been held liable in defamation to keep doing the defamation, so there are not a lot of cases that we can look to for a playbook about how to do it.”
“But, suffice to say, I have a lot of lawyers who are very busy looking into this, and we are weighing all of our options,” Kaplan added. Watch that clip above now.
Later in the episode, Maddow also brought up the other defamation case Kaplan and Carroll are pursuing against Trump. Kaplan said they would be making an announcement “very, very soon”, and when pressed said, “two to three days, max.” So, stay tuned.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s new character Teefs finds himself in a mashup with Kevin Smith’s bizarre Tusk. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently playing in theaters, with the film bringing back the MCU’s lovable team of intergalactic misfits, along with some new characters. Several newcomers, such as Teefs the walrus, help flesh out Rocket’s backstory. Smith, who is an avid fan of the MCU, also happens to have directed a disturbing horror comedy about a man being surgically turned into a walrus,Tusk, which makes for perfect mashup material.
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Smith took to Twitter to again praise Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after seeing it a second time in 4DX. However, the director also shared a mashup of Teefs and the Tusk poster, which was made for him by the Marketing Director of 4DX.
The original Tusk poster featured star Justin Long’s face above the title, with walrus tusks jutting out from below. The new poster replaces Long with Teefs, bringing one of Marvel’s characters into Smith’s disturbing film.
Kevin Smith Loves A Good Crossover
With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 taking over the box office, the film is on many minds, with various mashups making their way online. Whether it’s images of the Guardians as Star Wars characters or even Muppet Babies, there are plenty to go around. With Smith loving the MCU and having directed a movie that happens to prominently feature a walrus, Tusk became apparent cannon fodder for another piece of mashup art that sees the two projects cross over.
However, Smith has always been a fan of crossovers, having utilized them himself in various forms. While his own View Askewniverse works much like the MCU, featuring several interconnected films with shared characters, he’s gone beyond this to cross over his characters with other shows and movies, with Jay and Silent Bob popping up on Degrassi and in Scream 3. Smith even wrote a Batman ’66 comic depicting the character crossing over with the Green Hornet. Therefore, Smith’s Tusk meeting the world of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a flattering crossover for the director.
Tusk proved to be a divisive film for Smith, with many put off by the director’s foray into bizarre horror. Still, he has talked about making Tusk 2 and several other films, like Mallrats 2. Even with the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 mashup meant as a fun homage, Tusk may live to see another day with a sequel.
The Messenger, Jimmy Finkelstein’s new media outlet financed with $50 million in investor money, finally launched Monday. But while Finkelstein surely hoped the new outlet would get a warm welcome, it received the exact opposite.
Far from oohs and ahs, the Messenger was met with scorching criticism from readers who were left confused and angry, calling it “literally unreadable.”
“What it’s trying to do is kind of interesting: launch a digital news site with as few ideas as possible. In fact, zero seems to be the target number and, heck, they may get there. It’s a kind of discipline: ‘Nothing that would differentiate us should be used to describe us,’” NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen wrote.
He continued: “You could argue that they’re trying to repeat the trick Roger Ailes pulled with ‘fair and balanced.’ * Take a right wing POV; make it super obvious * Deny that you have any POV, like The Media does * Turn the friction into culture war * From that culture war program the channel.”
“I would dunk on The Messenger but I googled the site’s name and cannot find it,” business reporter Scott Nover said. While another user said what many were thinking: “They have no idea what they’re doing.”
When Finkelstein announced his goal of hiring a minimum of 175 journalists stationed in New York, Washington and Los Angeles, and his aspiration to have about 550 journalists in place within a year, his lofty ambition was shrugged off as “delusional” by industry insiders who noted among other things that the site would be free and supported only by advertising.
The New York Post was told by media experts that $50 million wouldn’t be enough to launch a news site that would be able to reach 100 million monthly viewers, the goal put forward by The Messenger’s No. 2 exec Richard Beckman. And judging by the reaction from those who gave the site a look today, it’s nothing but bad news for Finkelstein.
Peter Kafka, host of Recode Media, noted some of the headlines on Messenger for its launch Monday. Among them, “Hertz Denies Rental Car to Puero Rican Man for Being a ‘Foreigner’” and “Suspects Arrested After Cocaine Drops Out of Fake Pregnant Belly.”
“Launching a news site is hard but ooof. Welcome to the Messenger, which raised a gazillion dollars: ‘Our talented journalists are committed to demystifying the onslaught of misinformation and delivering impartial and objective news,’” Kafka wrote. “Btw I’m not saying people won’t click on these links. But you don’t need to launch a heavily funded site to distribute these links. They’re already all over the internet. (Also, this is the least defensible kind of publishing to get into as the ai race to the bottom starts.)”
Here’s a small sprinkling of other scalding comments:
What it’s trying to do is kind of interesting: launch a digital news site with as few ideas as possible. In fact, zero seems to be the target number and, heck, they may get there. It’s a kind of discipline: “Nothing that would differentiate us should be used to describe us.” 1/2
You could argue that they’re trying to repeat the trick Roger Ailes pulled with “fair and balanced.”
* Take a right wing POV; make it super obvious * Deny that you have any POV, like The Media does * Turn the friction into culture war * From that culture war program the channel
Btw I’m not saying people won’t click on these links. But you don’t need to launch a heavily funded site to distribute these links. They’re already all over the internet. (Also, this is the least defensible kind of publishing to get into as the ai race to the bottom starts.)
Ed Sheeran scores his fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated May 20) as – (pronounced Subtract) debuts in the top slot. Further, it does so with his largest sales week since 2017 – thus bigger than any week posted by Sheeran’s last two albums (2021’s Equals and 2019’s No. 6 Collaborations Project).
Subtract starts with 81,000 copies sold in the United States in the week ending May 11, according to Luminate. It’s the 10th-largest sales week of 2023 for any album, and the fifth-largest for a non-K-pop title.
Subtract’s sales were aided by its availability in both a standard 14-track and 18-track edition (digital download, CD and vinyl). The set was also available in nine vinyl variants (including exclusives for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, independent record stores, Target, Urban Outfitters and Walmart) and multiple CD iterations in collectible packages (including a signed CD, a version with a lenticular cover, a “textured sand” cover and a “Zine” CD package).
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, LE SSERAFIM’s Unforgiven debuts at No. 2, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 soundtrack bows at, appropriately, No. 3, and The Smashing Pumpkins’ ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts enters at No. 8.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new May 20, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 16. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Subtract’s 81,000 sold, physical sales comprise 59,000 (45,000 on CD, 14,000 on vinyl – Sheeran’s largest sales week on vinyl – and a couple hundred on cassette) and digital download sales comprise 22,000. Subtract also enters at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart, his third leader on that list, as well as No. 1 on Tastemaker Albums and Top Current Album Sales. Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week. Tastemaker Albums lists the week’s top-selling albums at independent record stores. Top Current Album Sales lists the week’s best-selling current (not catalog, or older albums) albums by traditional album sales.
Korean pop girl group LE SSERAFIM debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with Unforgiven, selling 38,500 copies in the week ending May 11. It’s the second top 10, highest charting effort, and best sales week for the act. The album was released to digital retail on May 1 and sold less than 500 copies in the week ending May 4. Its debut on Top Album Sales was prompted by its CD release on May 5.
Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of Unforgiven was issued in collectible CD packages (11 total, including exclusives for Target, Walmart and the Weverse webstore), each containing a standard set of bonus items and randomized photocards. Effectively all of Unforgiven’s album sales in the week ending May 11 were CDs, with a negligible sum generated by digital download album sales. The set was not available in any other retail format (such as vinyl or cassette).
The Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 soundtrack bows at No. 3 on Top Album Sales, with 29,000 copies sold. Of that sum, vinyl sales comprise 11,000 (enabling its debut at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart).
The multi-artist Guardians soundtrack (comprised entirely of previously released pop and rock songs) also debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Soundtracks chart and Top Rock Albums tally. All three of the Guardians theatrical film soundtracks have reached No. 1 on both the Soundtracks chart and the Top Rock Albums chart.
Soundtracks and Top Rock Albums ranks the week’s most popular soundtracks and rock releases, respectively, by equivalent album units.
A quartet of former No. 1s is next on Top Album Sales, as SEVENTEEN’s SEVENTEEN: 10th Mini Album: FML falls 1-4 in its second week (27,000; down 80%), Agust D’s D-Day dips 2-5 (14,000; down 46%), Taylor Swift’s Midnights is a non-mover at No. 6 (12,000; up 7%) and Metallica’s 72 Seasons descends 5-7 (10,000; down 20%).
The Smashing Pumpkins’ ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts debuts at No. 8 on Top Album Sales, selling 9,000 copies. Of that sum, vinyl sales comprise 4,000 – and the set bows at No. 8 on the Vinyl Albums chart. On Top Album Sales, ATUM marks the eighth top 10-charting effort for the rock act, and first since 2012’s Oceania debuted and peaked at No. 4.
Rounding out the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart is Swift’s chart-topping Lover (13-9 with 7,000; up 17%) and Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (12-10 with nearly 7,000; up 2%).
In the week ending May 11, there were 2.021 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 10.6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.661 million (up 12%) and digital albums comprised 360,000 (up 4.5%).
There were 737,000 CD albums sold in the week ending May 11 (up 3.5% week-over-week) and 914,000 vinyl albums sold (up 19.8%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 12.673 million (up 5.7% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 17.972 million (up 27.9%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 37.554 million (up 10.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 30.842 million (up 17.6%) and digital album sales total 6.713 million (down 12.7%).
While Bond 26, the twenty-sixth film in the 60-year-old spy movie series, has yet to be officially announced, we all know its release is inevitable. Probably as inevitable as 007 ordering his martini shaken, and not stirred.
However, little has actually been confirmed about the upcoming film. Rumors mills have obviously been rife, particularly around who will play Bond, but everything seems firmly under wraps. Here we will have a little run through about what we do know so far.
Speaking on #Bond 26, casting director Debbie McWilliams says:
“There’s no conversation being had at the moment … You know, it’s not unusual for there to be quite a big gap between different Bonds, it has been known to have a five-year gap. So, no, nothing.” https://t.co/Au77ah9Eg8
For now, no. The film remains very much in the pre-pre-production phase, with nothing expected to hit cinema screens until 2025 at the earliest. Barbara Broccoli, the show’s producer, announced in June 2022 that they were still thinking about where to go next with Bond, and how to reinvent him as a character.
The last Bond film, No Time To Die, left fans on tenterhooks with its dramatic climax and seemingly definitive sense of finality. And while the audience was reassured that “James Bond will return”, it will be a tough one to make a comeback from. As co-producer Michael G Wilson stressed, Bond 26 will be a hard reset for both the franchise and Bond himself.
Who will be the next James Bond?
This is the big question. There is plenty of speculation circling among the tabloids, but no one has yet to be confirmed to play one of the most coveted and career-defining roles in Hollywood.
What we do know is that Bond will be male, this has been confirmed by Broccoli. But despite all the media hype, what has also been confirmed is that no one has been lined up yet. It seems to be that until there is some clear direction on where to take the character and a script in the making, the producers won’t commit to an actor.
It won’t be Daniel Craig, as he himself has ruled out making a sixth film as Bond, so the door is currently open for a new actor to take on the role. Names that have been bandied about include Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Tom Hiddleston, and Rege-Jean Page, with the most credible rumor being linked to the Kick-A*s actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
What is clear is that they are certainly huge boots to fill. James Bond is suave, he looks good in a suit, packs quite the punch (both physically and with his one liners), and smashes out his impressive baccarat skills at the casino. But what Craig also brought to the role was giving the character a soul, giving him a license to be vulnerable. And this gave the audience something that the previous Bonds never did. It will be exciting to see who takes on this huge role, and how the producers reinvent the character.
Bond 26 plot: What will it be about?
We don’t have any plot details to share right now, and it seems as though the producers are really taking their time to reinvent the character, so there are unlikely to be any details released for a while.
There has been some noise about the character being older, someone who has had experience and potentially “been through the wars”, with suggestions that Bond may navigate espionage amid World War II. So, it doesn’t seem likely that there will be some fresh, young take of the character.
But what is expected is that Bond 26, similar to Casino Royale, will serve as a reboot for the entire franchise once again. With Craig bringing the character into the 21st century, making him more humanized and relatable, it will be interesting to see how Bond evolves in this next movie.
The Kremlin issued a chilling warning of ‘retaliatory actions’ today as Rishi Sunak pledged more support for Ukraine during talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at Chequers.
Moscow lashed out after the PM committed to supplying air defence missiles and drones, and vowed to push for more international aid when he attends the G7 gathering in Japan and Council of Europe in Reykjavik this week.
Mr Zelensky and Mr Sunak greeted each other with a hug after the president arrived at the PM’s country retreat in Chinook helicopters for his surprise visit this morning.
As the teams sat down in the historic Hawtrey Room, Mr Sunak pointed out that Winston Churchill had made many of his inspirational wartime speeches from that spot.
Last week it emerged the UK had become the first country to provide long-range precision missiles to Ukraine.
The Storm Shadow cruise missiles, accurate to beyond 150 miles, are expected to be at the heart of the much anticipated counter-offensive against Russian occupiers.
But the prospect of the UK supplying fighter jet has effectively disappeared, despite Mr Zelensky visiting in February and presenting Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle with a pilot’s helmet in a not-so-subtle hint of what he wanted from the UK.
Instead the RAF will help train Ukrainian forces to use Western jets, with No10 insisting Kyiv has ‘decided’ to focus on F-16s – which Britain does not use. Mr Sunak is expected to urge other countries to provide the airframes that Ukraine wants.
Mr Zelensky said his people are grateful ‘from our hearts’ for the support the UK had provided.
Rishi Sunak and Volodymyr Zelensky held talks in the historic residence along with their close teams
Mr Sunak pointed out that the room they were using had been the scene of some of Churchill’s war speeches
The British and Ukrainian teams perched on sofas as they took stock of the situation in the war against Russia
Mr Sunak and Mr Zelensky seemed delighted to see each other as they discussed progress against Russian forces
The two leaders greeted each other with a hug after the Ukraine president landed in Chinook helicopters
Mr Sunak pointed out Mr Zelensky was the first world leader he had entertained at Chequers and suggested it will be a ‘crucial’ week in the struggle against Russia
Mr Sunak tweeted a picture of the pair meeting with the message ‘welcome back’
Volodymyr Zelensky has jetted in to the UK to meet Rishi Sunak ahead of a ‘crucial’ week in the struggle against Russia
Mr Zelensky revealed he was visiting London in a message on Twitter this morning
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said of the latest pledge from the UK: ‘We feel extremely negative about this.’
Peskov raised the prospect of ‘retaliatory actions’ and said Ukraine was making the situation ‘more difficult’.
‘We repeat once again, this cannot have any significant and fundamental impact on the course of the special military operation, but, of course, it leads to further destructions, it leads to further retaliatory actions. That is, it makes this story much more difficult for Ukraine,’ he said.
Mr Zelensky was in Paris for talks with Emmanuel Macron yesterday following a summit with EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, Poland’s PM Mateusz Morawiecki and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Aachen over the weekend.
Mr Sunak told the Ukrainian president today: ‘You are actually the first foreign leader I have had the privilege of welcoming here as Prime Minister and there’s a lot of great history here.
‘In fact this room that we are standing in, Winston Churchill made many of his famous speeches in World War Two from this room.
‘And the same way today, your leadership, your country’s bravery and fortitude are an inspiration to us all.’
Mr Zelensky said he discussed western fighter jets with Mr Sunak and that he was anticipating ‘very important decisions’ being made soon.
He said: ‘Today we spoke about the jets. Very important topic for us because we can’t control the sky.’
He stressed that Ukraine and the UK were ‘real partners’, with Mr Sunak aware of details of developments on the battlefield.
‘We want to create this jets coalition and I’m very positive with it.
‘We spoke about it and I see that in the closest time you will hear some, I think very important decisions but we have to work a little bit more on it.’
Mr Sunak vowed to send a ‘message of solidarity’ as Ukraine tries to kick out Vladimir Putin’s invading forces, saying it is in ‘all our interests’ that Mr Zelensky succeeds.
He said the talks covered the ‘security arrangements we should put in place among allied countries for Ukraine for the long term to ensure it can defend itself and provide effective deterrence against future Russian aggression’.
Chequers has been the country residence of the PM of the day for decades
The two leaders took a stroll around the grounds at Chequers during their discussions this morning
The UK confirmed today that it will supply hundreds of air defence missiles and new long-range attack drones with a range of over 125 miles.
Mr Zelensky last came to the UK in February, when he addressed both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall.
Mr Zelensky tweeted: ‘Today – London. The UK is a leader when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air.
‘This cooperation will continue today. I will meet my friend Rishi. We will conduct substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations.’
Mr Sunak said the UK will be ‘sustaining our support’ for Ukraine.
The PM said: ‘This is a crucial moment in Ukraine’s resistance to a terrible war of aggression they did not choose or provoke.
‘They need the sustained support of the international community to defend against the barrage of unrelenting and indiscriminate attacks that have been their daily reality for over a year.
‘We must not let them down.
‘The frontlines of Putin’s war of aggression may be in Ukraine but the fault lines stretch all over the world. It is in all our interest to ensure Ukraine succeeds and Putin’s barbarism is not rewarded.
‘That is why the UK is sustaining our support to Ukraine – from tanks to training, ammunition to armoured vehicles. And this message of solidarity will ring loud in all my meetings with fellow world leaders in the days ahead.’
Mr Zelensky met Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris yesterday
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills‘ upcoming 13th season will look different without Lisa Rinna, 59, there to “own it!” During an interview with PEOPLEat the Best Buddies’ Celebration of Mothers event on May 13, current RHOBH star Garcelle Beauvais, 56, spilled the tea about what viewers can expect since Rinna officially announced her exit from the show earlier this year. “You know what’s interesting, she definitely had an impact on the show, and I never want to take that away from her, but it’s different,” the brunette beauty explained to the outlet.
Garcelle Beauvais joined the cast of ‘RHOBH’ in 2020. (Monica Schipper/Bravo)
While also carefully trying to not take too harsh of a dig at her former co-star, the 56-year-old added that the show is “fresher” without Lisa. “It’s fresher. It’s a little… not as… I don’t want to pin that on her, but it’s definitely fresher,” the Bravo personality continued. “The friendships, we’re figuring it out. There’s, of course, drama because there’s always going to be, but it’s just different.”
Garcelle’s latest comments on Lisa’s absence from The Real Housewives franchise also come on the heels of Andy Cohen, 54, confirming that Rinna did in fact quit the hit show earlier this year. In his new book, The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up, the Bravo executive producer revealed what went down at the end of Season 12. “I think [Lisa] should go on pause but absolutely come back. Feels like she has a toxic relationship with the show at this point, and taking a breath away could do everyone good,” he penned. Later, in the epilogue, Andy wrote, “We mutually agreed with Rinna that she should take a break from the show (this is a real pause).”
Soon after the book reveal on Lisa’s exit, the Rinna Wines founder’s rep told HollywoodLife that she not on “pause,” despite reports. “[Lisa] is not ‘ON PAUSE’ and there was never any discussion with anyone about that concept. Her contract ended, and the parties mutually agreed not to engage on a new one,” her rep’s statement read on May 11. “She felt her time on the show had run its course and she was more than happy to move on. And she still does not regret it.”
The mother-of-two announced she was leaving RHOBH after eight seasons on Jan. 5. At the time, she released the following statement to HL about her shocking departure. “This is the longest job I have held in my 35 year career and I am grateful to everyone at Bravo and all those involved in the series. It has been a fun 8-year run and I am excited for what is to come!’”, she penned. The statement, first given to PEOPLE, also alleged that Lisa and the network “mutually decided” to end her contract at the end of Season 12.
The cast of ‘RHOBH’ Season 12. (Tommy Garcia/Bravo)
Despite Lisa’s absence, Garcelle recently took to Instagram on May 3, to celebrate being back together with her other co-stars. “Beautiful day with these beautiful ladies,” she captioned the photo of her and the ladies by her side. Pictured from left to right was Erika Jayne, Sutton Stracke, RHOBH OG Kyle Richards, Dorit Kemsley, possible newcomer Annemarie Wiley, and Season 12 newcomer Crystal Minkoff. Although no official release date has been announced, it is likely that Season 13 will premiere in the later part of 2023.
Amazon Games is taking another shot at Middle-earth.
The ecommerce giant announced a deal with Middle-earth Enterprises for Amazon Games to develop and publish a new massively multiplayer online (MMO) game based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic “The Lord of the Rings.”
The upcoming game, as yet untitled, will be “an open-world MMO adventure in a persistent world set in Middle-earth, featuring the beloved stories of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ literary trilogy,” according to Amazon. The game is in early stages of production, with development led by Amazon Games Orange County, the studio behind Amazon Games’ open-world MMO game “New World.” Amazon Games will publish the game globally for PC and consoles, but it did not announce an expected launch date.
It’s Amazon’s second attempt to build a “Lord of the Rings” MMO. In 2019, it set plans for a massively multiplayer online game set in “a time long before the events of ‘The Lord of the Rings’” with Leyou Technologies, a Hong Kong-based games company. But Amazon abandoned the project after China’s Tencent acquired Leyou, Amazon and Tencent failed to come to terms on a new deal for the game.
“We’re committed to bringing players high-quality games, whether through original IPs or long-beloved ones like ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” Amazon Games VP Christoph Hartmann said in announcing the deal. “Bringing players a fresh take on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honored and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world.”
“The world of Middle-earth continues to prove an endlessly fertile ground for creators, and Amazon Games has a passion for building immersive, compelling worlds and publishing games for a global audience,” said Lee Guinchard, CEO of Freemode, Embracer’s division that houses Middle-earth Enterprises. “We’re taking every care to deliver an MMO which will do justice to the expansive Middle-earth universe and delight players around the world.”
Amazon Games’ lineup includes the internally developed MMO “New World” and action role-playing game “Lost Ark” from Smilegate RPG. In addition to plans for the next major “Tomb Raider” game, Amazon has announced publishing agreements with NCSoft for “Throne and Liberty,” Bandai Namco Online for “Blue Protocol,” and Glowmade and Disruptive Games for unannounced titles.
“This is coming from a place of wanting to start fresh and clean,” says Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy at the beginning of the Season 2 trailer for FX’s The Bear. Per the Season 2 logline, the new season follows Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (White), Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) and Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they work […]
Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloé presented a unified front when they were spotted stepping out in New York City on Monday.
The 42-year-old reality star–turned–American Horror Story actress showed off a minimal makeup look as she emerged from an SUV and headed into her hotel.
Khloé, 38, followed close behind and similarly highlighted her fresh skin.
The two appeared to have arrived in the Big Apple a day ahead of the opening of a pop-up shop for Kim’s popular shapewear brand Skims.
Their outing came shortly after it was reported that Kim had turned to retired NFL star Tom Brady for advice about snapping up some property in the Bahamas, after he previously bought a house there with his estranged wife Gisele Bündchen.
Sister act: Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloé presented a unified front when they were spotted stepping out in New York City on Monday. The 42-year-old Kardashians star and her 38-year-old sister appeared to be in town for a Skims Pop Up opening
Business trip? The two appeared to have arrived in the Big Apple a day ahead of the opening of a pop-up shop for Kim’s popular shapewear brand Skims
Kim stuck with an all-black athleisure ensemble, including a black sports bra that highlighted her prominent cleavage.
The look also emphasized her trim tummy and her significant recent weight loss.
Kim also had on a pair of black Adidas track pants that hung loosely around her curves, and she added a touch of high fashion with her black pointy-toed boots.
The 5ft2in beauty covered herself against the breeze with a large black Adidas overcoat with the brand’s identifiable stripes running down its baggy sleeves.
She styled her raven hair in a bun, and she blocked out the light with a slim but chunky set of black sunglasses.
The influencer kept her accessories minimal, aside from a silver necklace bearing her first name in large diamond-encrusted letters.
Khloé contrasted her older sister with a lighter ensemble built around a pale gray sweatshirt and matching sweatpants.
She had the pant legs pulled up slightly to highlight her long white athletic socks, and she rocked a cool set of white Nike trainers with pink, blue and black accents.
The blond beauty had her long hair styled down in playfully messy waves, and she wore futuristic black wraparound sunglasses.
Back in black: She stuck with an all-black athleisure ensemble, including a black sports bra that highlighted her prominent cleavage
Fit figure: The look also emphasized her trim tummy and her significant recent weight loss. Kim also had on a pair of black Adidas track pants that hung loosely around her curves, and she added a touch of high fashion with her black pointy-toed boots
Brightening up: Khloé contrasted her older sister with a lighter ensemble built around a pale gray sweatshirt and matching sweatpants. She had the pant legs pulled up slightly to highlight her long white athletic socks, and she rocked a cool set of white Nike trainers with pink, blue and black accents
Fancy: Khloé added a touch of refinement to her sporty ensemble by carrying a cream-colored Hermès Birkin bag made of alligator skin
Could they become neighbors? Kim’s outing comes after multiple sources told Page Six that she had struck up a friendship with Tom Brady recently. One source said Kim had asked him about what the area where he and Gisele had bought a house in the Bahamas
Khloé added a touch of refinement to her sporty ensemble by carrying a cream-colored Hermès Birkin bag made of alligator skin.
Kim’s outing comes after multiple sources told Page Six that she had struck up a friendship with Tom Brady recently.
One source said Kim had asked him about what the area where he and Gisele had bought a house in the Bahamas, as she was looking for a luxurious home in the same neighborhood.
She reportedly chatted him up ahead of a trip to the tropical spot to visit the member’s only Baker’s Bay Golf & Ocean Club, where she was looking at a house.
An insider clarified that there was ‘no romance’ between the two celebrities, and Tom was not in the islands when Kim visited.
She and Khloé were surrounded by security and adoring fans as they arrived at their hotel, but some of the people in the crowd appear to have confused Khloé with her other famous sister, Kourtney Kardashian, which she addressed in her Instagram Stories later in the day in the form of a humorous lecture.
‘Hey so for those who can’t tel me and @kourtneykardash apart this is for you,’ she began. ‘I totally understand how we look like identical twins so this might be challenging for some but hopefully this presentation will help.
‘Especially to the people that were screaming “Kourtney Kourtney as I walked by… this one’s got you ?.’
Then she shared a closeup of Kourtney looking particularly glamorous with edgy black lipstick and a busty top.
‘This is my sister Kourtney. She’s pretty fabulous, gorgeous, hysterical…. So I get how people mix us up,’ Khloé continued.
‘A few ways to tell us a part is that 99% of the time [she] is a brunette, where as I am 99% the time a blonde,’ she explained helpfully.
Khloé even sounded as if she took the mixup as a bit of a compliment while applauding her oldest sister.
Having a laugh: She and Kim were surrounded by security and adoring fans as they arrived at their hotel, but some of the people in the crowd appear to have confused Khloé with her other famous sister, Kourtney Kardashian, which she addressed in her Instagram Stories
Sizzler: Then she shared a closeup of Kourtney looking particularly glamorous with edgy black lipstick and a busty top
‘I get it she is hot as f***’: Khloé even sounded as if she took the mixup as a bit of a compliment while applauding her oldest sister
The easiest way: However, she clarified that height was the major way for sight-challenged fans to tell the two apart in lieu of more subtle differences
‘I get it she is hot as f***… Again, maybe this is where people keep blending us together because we are f***ing identical in the way we look,’ she continued, while sharing a sizzling photo of Kourtney in whih she showed off plenty of underboob and her toned midriff.
However, she clarified that height was the major way for sight-challenged fans to tell the two apart in lieu of more subtle differences.
‘Some thing that might help is that Kourtney is quite tiny… I am about 5’10”,’ Khloé clarified.
‘That is quite a height difference, so even if we’re standing next to each other, and even though our beauty seems to be identical to one another, the height is a dead giveaway.
Then, she shared a hilarious illustration showing the sisters lined up by height, as if they were part of a police lineup.
She emphasized how much shorter Kourtney would look compared to her. Kim and Kourtney were the shortest of the sisters, while Kylie Jenner split the difference and Khloé and Kendall Jenner both towered around 5ft10in.
‘The resemblance is uncanny. Yes, I get it,’ Khloé joked.
She also used the opportunity to show herself off in her best light.
Fashion crimes? Then, she shared a hilarious illustration showing the sisters lined up by height, as if they were part of a police lineup
Blond beauty: She also used the opportunity to show herself off in her best light. ‘This is what I look like on a great day,’ she said of a photo of herself in a sheer blue dress
Brain teaser: Another humorous slide encourage her fans to play a game of Spot Khloé
Whoops! Kardashian fans who couldn’t tell Khloé and Kourtney apart weren’t alone, as she revealed that Kourtney’s first wedding to Travis Barker in Las Vegas featured an awkward mix-up as well
Having fun with it: She concluded with a final text post ribbing her seemingly nearsighted fans
‘This is what I look like on a great day,’ she said of a photo of herself in a sheer blue dress.
‘And during golden hour. But still my hair is blonde, I’m tall and my eyes are lighter than hers,’ she said, contrasting herself with Kourtney.
Another humorous slide encourage her fans to play a game of Spot Khloé.
She posted a publicity still from one of her family’s reality shows, writing, ‘Let’s play a game…. who can guess who @kourtneykardashian is and who I am.’
Kardashian fans who couldn’t tell Khloé and Kourtney apart weren’t alone, as she revealed that Kourtney’s first wedding to Travis Barker in Las Vegas featured an awkward mix-up as well.
‘Even mr. Elvis Presley while he was marrying my sister @kourtneykardashian and Travis called her, Khloé,’ she wrote over a photo of Kourtney kissing Travis with the Elvis impersonator/officiant behind them. ‘This happens to us on a daily basis multiple times a day. I’m being conservative by saying a daily basis.’
She concluded with a final text post ribbing her seemingly nearsighted fans.
‘I hope my presentation helped those who have been confused for over 20 years ❤️❤️❤️❤️,’ she wrote.
But Khloé decided she wasn’t quite done having fun, and less than an hour later she returned to her Insta stories.
She posted a photo of a blu-ray case for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito’s 1988 comedy Twins, which showed the drastically different-looking stars on the cover in matching tan suits.
Khloé highlighted the movie’s tagline: ‘Only their mother can tell them apart.’
She reused it for another photo of herself and Kourtney at their sizzling best in glittering sheer bodysuits that highlighted their pert derrieres, astonish curves and massive height difference.
Can’t quit: But Khloé decided she wasn’t quite done having fun, and less than an hour later she returned to her Insta stories
Stunners: Another photos showed Khloé and Kourtney at their sizzling best in glittering sheer bodysuits that highlighted their pert derrieres, astonish curves and massive height difference
Aunt and niece: Khloé also shared a cute photo of herself with her brother Rob Kardashian’s daughter Dream, whom he shares with his ex Blac Chyna
Kourtney, 44, accused Kim of turning her Italian wedding to Travis Barker into a ‘business opportunity’ when she learned that Kim was co-designing a Dolce & Gabbana titled ‘Ciao, Kim.’
The name seemed to reference the Italian getaway, and Kourtney’s bridal party were all dressed in D&G outfits.
Khloé also shared a cute photo of herself with her brother Rob Kardashian’s daughter Dream, whom he shares with his ex Blac Chyna.
‘Dreamy Dream….. such a love,’ she captioned the snap.
